In Wisconsin, parents with joint custody can have one of many different shared placement schedules. There are 50/50 schedules, 40/60 schedules, 70/30 schedules, and so on. The court tries to maximize placement with each parent when parents have joint physical custody. What the day-to-day schedule looks like will differ based on each person’s needs.
When addressing child custody in a family law matter, it is important to understand that there are two distinct issues: legal custody and physical placement. Legal custody or custody is the ability to make major decisions (school, medical and religious) affecting a minor child’s life. Physical placement or placement is the schedule that the parties follow.
Shared placement does not always mean equal shared placement. Instead, a shared placement schedule is any schedule that provides one parent with at least 25% of the placement time. That means that a shared placement schedule could be a 25/75 split, 30/70 split, 40/60 split, 50/50 split, or any percentage in between.
The most common 50/50 custody schedules are equal placement using a 2/2/3, 2/5 schedule, and alternating on a week on/week off schedule. Read about those and more schedules in further detail below:
Below is a sample chart showing a 2/2/3 rotating schedule. It means that one parent has the child for two consecutive overnights, followed by the other parent for two consecutive overnights, followed by the first parent for three consecutive overnights, then mirroring that pattern.
This schedule is most common when the child is young and in their developmental years. The court generally believes that frequent, consistent contact with each parent is in the child’s best interests during those developmental years.
Below is a sample chart showing a 2/5 rotating schedule. It means that one parent always has the child on Monday and Tuesday, the other parent always has the child on Wednesday and Thursday, and the parents alternate weekends with the child.
This schedule is often a good fit for preteen children, such that they know that every Monday, mom will be picking them up from school versus how in a 2/2/3 the days would alternate.
Week on/week off placement is defined as seven consecutive overnights with one parent followed by seven consecutive overnights with the other parent, alternating weekly throughout the year. This schedule is most often used for children that are older (10+) and can handle going seven consecutive overnights without seeing the other parent.
Sometimes, parents that live a further distance from one another carry out a week on/week off schedule for non-school aged children.
Often child placement doesn’t end up being exactly 50/50. This could be due to specific needs of the child, the job of the parents, or any other number of factors. When making the calculations, courts do not typically count holiday and vacation placement as additional overnights to either parent. Most holidays are shared annually and vacation time can be exercised by both parents.
The 4/3 schedule is a common way to do a 60/40 split where one parent has slightly more overnights. One parent would have the kids for the four straight overnights, then the other parent has them for three overnights, making this a weekly schedule. This can work great if one parent has off on weekends and the other has off different days of the week.
The 8/6 is another way to approach a 60/40 placement split. This is like the 4/3, but the number of overnights in a row has doubled. The amount of time away from each parent is more significant, so it is a better fit for older kids.
Another common shared placement schedule when one parent has primary placement is the alternate weekend schedule. Then ends up being about an 80/20 split. There are many variations where this could also include one overnight on opposing alternate weeks, such as Wednesday nights.
The best schedule for shared custody is what works best for your individual family. Often, parents decide on the placement schedule based on their work schedules and kids’ schedules. Whether or not one of those is best for you will depend on the age of your kids, the kid’s needs, and your needs.
Age plays a big factor in placement schedule because it will correlate with the kids being in school and other activities. For example, week on/week off is common for older children, 2/5 is common for pre-teens, 2/2/3 is common for younger children.
Following to Wis. Stat. §767.41(2)(am), it is presumed to be in the child’s best interests that the parties have joint legal custody, meaning that neither party’s decision-making authority is superior to the other parent’s decision-making authority.
Many court officials and guardians ad litem prefer equal shared placement, but there is no legal justification for this preference. Wis. Stat. §767.41(4)(a)(2) indicates that the court should order a placement schedule that maximizes the amount of time each parent spends with the child. Alongside this, there are several factors the Wisconsin state statutes law out to be considered. In general, those considerations are as follows:
