The Utah Code provides for the parents to share major holidays with the children in divorce cases.

These major holidays include: the child’s birthday, Martin Luther King Jr., spring break, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Columbus Day, the fall school break, Halloween, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving, and the Christmas break.

In addition to these major holidays, “holidays” include any snow days, teacher development days, or days in which school is not scheduled and which are contiguous to the holiday period.

I love the fact that there are “snow days” in Utah – the more the merrier, I say, especially since we live in the state with the greatest snow on earth – we might as well celebrate it. It does spark a little jealousy in me, however, to realize that there are times when school is canceled due to snow for these new kids coming up. Why, when I was a kid, if memory serves, we walked to and from school in at least two feet of snow, uphill both ways. But I digress.

Father’s Day is spent with the natural or adoptive father from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the holiday.

Mother’s Day is spent with the natural or adoptive mother from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the holiday.

Holidays take precedence over weekend parent-time, and changes may not be made to the regular rotation of the alternating weekend parent-time schedule. Birthdays take precedence over holidays and extended parent-time. However, birthdays do not take precedence over uninterrupted parent-time if the parent exercising the uninterrupted parent-time takes the child away from that parent’s residence for the uninterrupted parent-time.

It will be remembered by anyone who has read my post from July 3rd, 2014 (and there has to be one of two out there, I would hope), that each parent gets a period of two weeks’ uninterrupted parent-time in the summer, presumably so they can take a vacation with the children if they want to.

The holiday parent-time schedule is set forth at Utah Code Section 30-3-35 (2) (c) through (k).

I will post more on holiday parent-time in the future.

This material should not be construed as legal advice for any particular fact situation, but is intended for general informational purposes only. For advice specific to any individual situation, an experienced attorney should be contacted.