Georgia has no standard visitation schedule. No statute sets a default; your parenting plan sets the schedule.
What the Plan Must Say
Unless the court or the parents provide otherwise, OCGA 19-9-1(b)(2)(A) requires a parenting plan to state “[w]here and when a child will be in each parent’s physical care, designating where the child will spend each day of the year.” Every final custody order must include such a plan, as our post on whether a judge can reject a custody agreement explains.
The Statewide Form Offers Choices, Not a Default
The parenting plan form in Uniform Superior Court Rule 24.10 lets parents choose the other parent’s minimum time from options such as “The weekend of the first and third Friday of each month” or every other weekend, plus an optional weekday evening, or write in their own.
The child support addendum form in Gwinnett County Superior Court’s case management standing order calls alternating weekends, holidays, and two weeks of summer “Standard Visitation,” but only as a benchmark for counting a parent’s time. The order itself sets no default schedule.
A Schedule Can Change on a Set Date
In Durden v. Anderson, 338 Ga. App. 565 (2016), a plan gave a father alternating weeks with a toddler until she started pre-kindergarten, and every other weekend after that. The Court of Appeals upheld the built-in change, finding it was made with the child’s best interests in mind.
By contrast, in Dellinger v. Dellinger, 278 Ga. 732 (2004), a mother’s time would have dropped automatically if she moved more than 35 miles from the county. The Georgia Supreme Court ordered it stricken, holding that such automatic changes “should be the exception, not the rule.”
Informal Trades Are Not Orders
The statewide form provides that “[p]arties may, by mutual agreement, vary the parenting time/visitation; however, such agreement shall not be a binding court order.” Changing the schedule itself is a modification, a separate question.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!