Parenting Schedules in Ontario: A Legal Guide for Separated Parents

When parents separate, working out where the children will live and when each parent will spend time with them is often the most consequential decision in the entire process. The schedule shapes your children’s daily lives, your relationship with your former spouse, and, once formalized, the legal terms you will be expected to live by.

This page explains the parenting schedules most often used by separating families in Ontario, how each one works in practice, the legal framework that surrounds them, and what your options are when you and your former spouse cannot agree on the right arrangement. The schedules described here apply equally to married parents going through divorce under the federal Divorce Act and to common-law parents whose situation is governed by Ontario’s Children’s Law Reform Act.

The schedule is one part of a complete parenting plan. For the broader document, including decision-making responsibility, holidays, communication, and how it gets incorporated into an enforceable separation agreement, see our Parenting Plans page.

If you’re working out a parenting schedule, changing one that isn’t working, or facing a dispute, our family lawyers can help. Request a free callback to discuss your situation, or read on for a guide to the parenting schedules used in Ontario.

The Legal Framework: Parenting Time

Amendments to the federal Divorce Act that came into force in March 2021, mirrored in Ontario’s Children’s Law Reform Act, replaced the older terminology of “custody” and “access” with two distinct concepts: parenting time (the time a child spends in the care of each parent) and decision-making responsibility (the authority to make significant decisions about the child’s life). This page focuses on parenting time, which is what a schedule allocates. For decision-making responsibility, see the Parenting Plans page.

Throughout this page we use the modern terminology. The older terms “custody” and “access” still appear in some older court orders and in everyday language, but they no longer have legal effect in new Ontario family matters.

Making a Parenting Schedule Enforceable

A schedule scribbled on a napkin isn’t enforceable. To carry legal weight, a parenting schedule has to be embedded in one of the following:

1. A separation agreement. A written contract between the parties, signed by both, ideally with each party having received independent legal advice from their own lawyer. A properly executed separation agreement is binding and enforceable as a contract under Ontario’s Family Law Act. If a party doesn’t comply, the agreement can be filed with the court and enforced like a court order under section 35 of the FLA.
2. A consent order. Parents who agree on terms can ask the court to issue a consent order incorporating those terms. This is faster than full litigation and gives the agreement the immediate force of a court order.
3. A court order. If parents can’t agree, a judge will impose terms after hearing evidence. Litigated parenting orders are far more expensive, take far longer, and produce outcomes neither parent fully controls. They are sometimes necessary.

For the schedule to be enforceable, it must be specific: precise pickup and drop-off times, named exchange locations, named days, and clear rules for what happens when the schedule can’t be followed. Vague schedules produce post-agreement disputes.

Best Interests of the Child: The Court’s Lens

Whether parents agree on a schedule or a court has to impose one, the legal touchstone is the same: the best interests of the child. Section 24 of Ontario’s Children’s Law Reform Act and section 16 of the Divorce Act both set out the factors a court must consider, including:

• The child’s needs, given their age and stage of development
• The nature and strength of the child’s relationship with each parent and other significant people
• Each parent’s willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other parent
• The history of care of the child
• The child’s own views and preferences, if they can reasonably be ascertained
• Any family violence and its impact on parenting

There is no presumption in Ontario law that a 50/50 schedule is the right starting point. Each schedule has to be justified on the facts of the specific family. Courts have been clear that equal time is not a parental entitlement. It is an arrangement that may or may not serve the child.

The Most Common Parenting Schedules in Ontario

The 2-2-3 Parenting Schedule

A 50/50 schedule that operates on a two-week cycle:

• Week 1: Parent A has Monday and Tuesday. Parent B has Wednesday and Thursday. Parent A has Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• Week 2: The schedule reverses.

Best suited to: Younger children who benefit from never going more than three days without contact with either parent. Parents who live close to each other and communicate effectively.

Legal considerations: Six exchanges over two weeks is a high frequency. Courts assessing this schedule will look closely at how well parents cooperate at handoffs, since high-conflict 2-2-3 arrangements expose children to repeated exposure to conflict at exchange points.

The 3-2-2-3 Parenting Schedule

A close variant of 2-2-3:

• Week 1: Parent A has Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (3 days). Parent B has Thursday and Friday (2 days). Parent A has Saturday and Sunday (2 days).
• Week 2:

Best suited to: Families who want roughly equal time but slightly longer blocks than 2-2-3 allows. Often works well for school-aged children.

Legal considerations: Like 2-2-3, this schedule depends on parents being able to communicate frequently and coordinate school-related matters. Where there is a history of family violence or persistent high conflict, courts generally prefer schedules with fewer exchanges.

The 5-2-2-5 (also 2-2-5-5 or “5225”) Parenting Schedule

A 14-day cycle in which weekday parenting time is fixed and weekends rotate:

• Every Monday and Tuesday: Parent A.
• Every Wednesday and Thursday: Parent B.
• Friday through Sunday: Alternates each week between Parent A and Parent B.

The result over two weeks is a sequence of 5-2-2-5 (or 2-2-5-5 depending on where you start counting).

Best suited to: School-aged children whose weekday routines benefit from consistency. Parents who want fewer exchanges than 2-2-3 requires but still want substantial time with the child each week.

Legal considerations: Five days is a meaningful stretch for younger children. Courts assessing this schedule for very young children may require shorter blocks initially with the schedule transitioning to 5-2-2-5 as the child develops.

The 3-4-4-3 Parenting Schedule

A 14-day cycle in which each parent has three days, then four days, alternating:

• Week 1: Parent A has 3 days. Parent B has 4 days.
• Week 2: Parent A has 4 days. Parent B has 3 days.

The specific days are chosen to suit work schedules.

Best suited to: Parents whose work schedules don’t follow a standard Monday-to-Friday rhythm, including shift workers, healthcare workers, and parents with rotating schedules.

Legal considerations: Because the specific days vary, the schedule can be harder to enforce. The parenting plan or order should specify exactly which days fall to each parent for the foreseeable future, ideally with a process for adjusting when work schedules change.

Week-On / Week-Off (Alternating Weeks)

Each parent has the children for a full week (typically Monday to Sunday), alternating.

Best suited to: Older children and adolescents. Families where parents live far enough apart that frequent exchanges are impractical. Higher-conflict situations where reducing parent-to-parent contact serves the child’s interest.

Legal considerations: A week is a long stretch for younger children to be away from either parent. Courts considering this schedule for children under about 8 will often want a midweek dinner or overnight built in. The schedule is sometimes the best practical option in high-conflict files, where minimizing exchanges reduces children’s exposure to parental conflict.

The 60/40 Parenting Schedule

One parent has the children approximately 60% of the time, the other approximately 40%. A common form: the child resides primarily with Parent A on school nights, with Parent B having every other weekend (Friday after school to Sunday evening) plus one weekday overnight.

Best suited to: Situations where 50/50 is not workable, often because one parent travels for work, lives further from the children’s school, or has a less suitable home environment for school-day routines. Common in the immediate post-separation period before a long-term schedule is settled.

Legal considerations: 60/40 sits in a meaningful place under Ontario’s Federal Child Support Guidelines. When a parent has the children at least 40% of the time (typically calculated by overnights), the “shared parenting” provisions of section 9 of the Guidelines apply, and child support is calculated using a set-off of each parent’s table amount rather than a straight payment from one parent to the other. Parents disputing child support should be aware that the calculation of overnights, and the question of whether the 40% threshold has been met, is a frequent point of disagreement.

The 70/30 Parenting Schedule

One parent has the children approximately 70% of the time. The other has every other weekend plus typically one weeknight evening or overnight.

Best suited to: Families with a strong history of one parent being the primary caregiver, very young children, or situations where one parent’s circumstances make a more equal schedule impractical.

Legal considerations: Under this arrangement, child support follows the standard Federal Child Support Guidelines table amount. The section 9 shared-parenting calculation does not apply. The 30%-time parent retains full rights to information about the child (school, health) and to participate in decision-making, depending on how decision-making responsibility is allocated in the parenting plan.

Long-Distance Parenting Schedules

When parents live more than a short drive apart (different cities, different provinces, or different countries), none of the standard rotating schedules work. Long-distance parenting plans typically provide:

• Primary residence with one parent during the school year
• Extended blocks with the other parent during summer, March break, and winter holidays
• Regular video and phone contact during school-year periods
• Specific provisions for travel costs, who arranges flights, and what notice is required for travel changes

Long-distance arrangements involving international travel raise additional issues: passport applications usually require both parents’ consent, and international travel by one parent with the children can require written consent from the other. Where there is any risk of one parent removing the children from Canada without consent, the parenting plan should specifically address travel restrictions and may incorporate provisions under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

What Courts Typically Order, and What Parents Typically Agree

There is often a meaningful gap between the schedules parents agree to in mediation or negotiation and the schedules courts impose after a contested hearing.

Agreed schedules tend to be more creative and more responsive to the specific family, with flexible exchange times, built-in adjustments for kids’ activities, and room for short-notice changes by mutual agreement. Court-ordered schedules tend to be more rigid: precise pickup times, specific exchange locations, clear holiday rotations. The reason is practical. A schedule a judge imposes has to be enforceable, and enforceable means specific.

Parents who can negotiate their own schedule almost always get a better result than parents who have a judge impose one. Time, cost, and outcome all favour settlement. This is one of the reasons Ontario family courts increasingly require parents to attempt some form of out-of-court resolution, including mediation, collaborative family law, or settlement-focused negotiation, before proceeding to trial.

Changing a Parenting Schedule

Parenting schedules need to change as children grow, as parents’ circumstances change, and as the practical realities of life shift. The mechanism for changing the schedule depends on what kind of document set it:

Separation agreement: Parents can amend it any time they both agree. The amendment should be in writing, signed by both parents, and ideally reviewed by each parent’s lawyer.

Court order or consent order: Changes require either (a) the consent of both parents, formalized as a new consent order, or (b) a motion to change the order on the basis of a material change in circumstances. The change must be material, not foreseen at the time of the original order, and significant enough to alter the best-interests analysis.

Common examples of material changes: a parent relocating, a child reaching an age where the existing schedule no longer serves them, a significant change in a parent’s work schedule, or evidence that the current schedule is no longer in the child’s best interests.

When Parents Can’t Agree

If you and your former spouse can’t agree on a parenting schedule, you have options that don’t require a contested trial:

Mediation. A neutral third party helps you and your former spouse work through the issues and arrive at an agreement. Aaries offers mediation through our Custody & Parenting Mediation service. Most parents who attempt mediation reach an agreement.

Collaborative family law. Each parent retains a collaboratively trained lawyer, and the four parties commit in writing to resolving the matter without going to court. If the process breaks down, both lawyers must withdraw, which gives everyone an incentive to settle.

Negotiation through counsel. Many parenting disputes are resolved through lawyers exchanging proposals and responses on behalf of their clients. This is generally faster and less costly than litigation.

Litigation. When the other options fail or are not appropriate (for example, where there is a history of family violence and one parent is not safe in negotiation), the courts are there. Ontario family litigation usually moves through case conferences, settlement conferences, and motions before reaching a contested trial, and most cases settle along the way.

For more on the choice between out-of-court and court-based options, see Mediation or Court?.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 50/50 parenting the standard in Ontario?

No. Ontario law has no presumption of 50/50. Courts decide parenting arrangements based on the best interests of the child, considering each parent’s history of caregiving, the child’s relationship with each parent, practical factors like distance and work schedules, and the parents’ ability to cooperate. 50/50 is common where it serves the child; it is not the default.

At what age can a child decide their own parenting schedule?

There is no fixed age in Ontario law at which a child can decide. The court considers a child’s views and preferences as one factor among many, giving them more weight as the child gets older and demonstrates the capacity to express a reasoned preference. By the mid-teens, a child’s preference often becomes practically determinative, since courts recognize the limits of trying to enforce a schedule a teenager refuses to follow. The Office of the Children’s Lawyer is sometimes appointed to represent the views and preferences of children in contested matters.

How is child support calculated based on the parenting schedule?

Under the Federal Child Support Guidelines, if one parent has the children less than 40% of the time (counted in overnights), the other parent pays the table amount based on income and number of children. If parenting time is at least 40% for each parent, the “shared parenting” arrangement under section 9 of the Guidelines applies, and child support is generally calculated as a set-off between the two parents’ table amounts, often adjusted for the increased costs of two homes maintaining the children. Overnight counts matter, and disputes over whether the 40% threshold has been crossed are common.

Can I change a parenting schedule if my child wants to spend more time with me?

It depends on the document that sets the schedule and the age of the child. If the schedule is in a separation agreement, both parents can agree to change it. If it’s in a court order, you’ll need either consent or a motion to change based on a material change in circumstances. An older child’s expressed preference can constitute a material change, particularly when combined with other factors. Speak with a family lawyer about your specific situation.

Do parenting schedules apply to common-law couples?

Yes. Common-law couples in Ontario are governed by the Children’s Law Reform Act and the same best-interests framework that applies to married couples under the Divorce Act. The same schedules, the same enforcement mechanisms (separation agreements, court orders), and the same processes for changing schedules all apply.

What happens if one parent breaches the schedule?

If a parent regularly fails to follow a court-ordered schedule, the other parent can bring a motion before the court for enforcement, contempt, or a change in the order. If the schedule is in a separation agreement, the agreement can be filed with the court and enforced as if it were an order. Pattern of breach is also one of the factors courts consider in deciding whether to vary an order. A parent who consistently denies the other parent’s time may find their own parenting time reduced.

Speak With an Aaries Family Lawyer

If you are working out a parenting schedule for the first time, trying to change one that is not working, or facing a dispute that mediation or negotiation has not resolved, our family lawyers in Toronto and Kingston can help.

We approach parenting matters with the assumption that out-of-court resolution serves both you and your children better than litigation, and with the experience and capability to take a matter to trial when that is required.

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