Utah Code 81-9-302: The Minimum Parent-Time Schedule

Utah Code § 81-9-302 is the schedule a court applies when parents of a child aged five to 18 cannot agree on parent-time. It is the most-quoted parent-time provision in Utah law and the one most often misread, because of two words in Subsection (2): minimum and if.

It applies only if the parties do not agree. And what it produces is the minimum the noncustodial parent is entitled to — a floor, not a target, and not a recommendation.

If you and your co-parent agree on something different, you can have it. This section exists for when you don't.

What the default schedule actually gives

Under Subsection (2), the minimum schedule is four things.

One weekday evening. Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. unless the noncustodial parent or the court specifies a different day. The noncustodial parent may instead elect a full weekday: from school dismissal until 8:30 p.m., or — when school is not in session and the parent is available — from 8 a.m. until 8:30 p.m., accommodating the custodial parent's work schedule.

Alternating weekends. Beginning the first weekend after the decree is entered, Friday 5:30 p.m. to Sunday 8:30 p.m. The noncustodial parent may instead elect to begin at school dismissal on Friday, or at 8 a.m. Friday when school is not in session.

Holidays per the schedule in Subsection (12), which alternates by odd and even years.

Extended summer parent-time under Subsection (3).

The election between the standard times and the school-dismissal times is not a small detail. The difference between a weekend starting at 5:30 p.m. Friday and one starting when school lets out is a meaningful amount of time across a year, and Subsection (5)(a) says the election should be made at the time the decree is entered.

Summer, and the deadlines that decide it

Subsection (3) gives the noncustodial parent up to four weeks when school is out for summer break, running 8 a.m. on the first day to 8:30 p.m. on the last.

Those four weeks split in a specific way:

• two weeks are uninterrupted — the custodial parent gets no weekday visit during them
• two weeks may be interrupted by the custodial parent for a weekday visit, on the same weekday the noncustodial parent normally has

The custodial parent separately gets two uninterrupted weeks with the child during summer break.

Extended parent-time must be consecutive, with one exception: the noncustodial parent's four weeks may be split into two separate 14-day blocks that are not consecutive.

The May notice deadlines

This is the part that costs people their summer, and it is in Subsection (4).

In odd-numbered years:

• the noncustodial parent gives notice by May 1
• the custodial parent gives notice by May 15

In even-numbered years:

• the custodial parent gives notice by May 1
• the noncustodial parent gives notice by May 15

The order flips every year. And the consequence of missing your date is severe: under Subsection (4)(c), if you fail to give notice in time, the parent who did comply may determine your summer schedule for you. If neither parent gives notice, the first one to provide it sets the schedule for both.

There is a separate 10-day clock in Subsection (4)(d): a custodial parent intending to interrupt the noncustodial parent's interruptible two weeks must say so within 10 days of receiving the noncustodial parent's summer plans.

Put your year's date in a calendar the day your decree is signed. It is the single easiest deadline in Utah family law to miss and the most annoying to lose.

What happens when two entitlements collide

Subsection (6)(a) sets an order of precedence when the schedule conflicts with itself:

1. Mother's Day or Father's Day
2. the child's birthday — unless a parent is in uninterrupted extended parent-time and has taken the child away from home
3. any other holiday under Subsection (12)
4. extended summer parent-time
5. ordinary weekday and weekend parent-time

So a holiday beats summer, and Mother's Day and Father's Day beat everything. Subsection (6)(b) adds a humane detail: a parent exercising a child's birthday may bring the child's siblings along.

Note also that Subsection (6)(a) opens by saying changes may not be made to this schedule except to resolve those conflicts. Once this schedule is ordered, it is the schedule.

The practical provisions people don't know exist

Someone else can do the pickup. Subsection (7): a stepparent, grandparent, or other responsible adult designated by a parent may collect the child, provided the other parent knows who that person is and the parent will be with the child by 7 p.m.

Holidays on school days. Subsection (8): if a holiday falls on a regular school day, the parent exercising parent-time is responsible for getting the child to school.

Siblings on different school calendars. Subsection (9): where children's school schedules differ for a holiday, the parent exercising it may keep the children together — beginning the first evening all the children's schools are out and ending the evening before any of them returns.

Phone and virtual contact. Subsection (10): telephone contact at reasonable hours for a reasonable duration. Virtual parent-time applies when the equipment is reasonably available and the parents live at least 100 miles apart; if they disagree about availability, the court decides, weighing the child's best interests and each parent's ability to handle the cost. Critically, Subsection (10)(c): virtual parent-time supplements and does not replace in-person time.

A younger sibling changes the calculation. Subsection (11): where there is both a child aged five to 18 and a child under five, the parents and the court should consider an upward deviation so parent-time is uniform across all the children. Children under five otherwise fall under Section 81-9-304, a different and more limited schedule — this provision exists so a family isn't running two schedules at once.

What changed in the 2024 renumbering

This section was Utah Code § 30-3-35 before Utah's domestic relations recodification, which took effect September 1, 2024. An older decree, a form, or an article citing 30-3-35 is citing what is now 81-9-302.

The substance carried across. A decree referencing the old number remains enforceable and does not need modifying because of the renumbering. But anything drafted today should cite § 81-9-302, and a source still explaining Utah parent-time under Title 30 is working from a repealed chapter.

The related sections moved in the same way: the optional expanded schedule is now § 81-9-303, the schedule for children under five is § 81-9-304, and the equal parent-time schedule is § 81-9-305.

Should you just use this schedule?

For plenty of families, yes. It is predictable, courts know it, and it needs no negotiation.

But it is worth being clear about what it is. This is the schedule for parents who could not reach agreement — it is designed to be workable in the absence of cooperation, not to be optimal for a particular child. It assumes one custodial and one noncustodial parent, it assumes a standard school calendar, and it hands the noncustodial parent roughly every other weekend plus one evening.

If you and your co-parent can agree on something that fits your child's activities, your work schedules, and the distance between your homes, Utah lets you write that instead. Section 81-9-303 offers an optional expanded schedule, and § 81-9-305 an equal-time schedule, if either is closer to what you want.

How divvi helps

divvi's free uncontested divorce wizard builds your parenting plan around whichever schedule you choose — the § 81-9-302 minimum, the expanded schedule, equal time, or a custom arrangement — and generates every court-required document from your answers. You pay only the $358 court filing fee.

If holidays are the sticking point, divvi's free holiday parent-time templates give you copy-ready rotations for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and school breaks, and the overnight counter works out the overnight split that drives child support.

divvi is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. This is general information about Utah law.