60/40, 70/30 and 80/20 custody schedules, night by night

A 60/40 custody schedule gives one parent about 4 nights in 7 and the other about 3, a 70/30 schedule gives the other parent about 4 nights every two weeks, and an 80/20 schedule about 3 nights every two weeks. The labels are rounded: most "60/40" schedules work out to 57/43, and most "70/30" and "80/20" ones to 71/29 and 79/21. Below, each common version is laid out night by night, with the real numbers, so you can compare like with like.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Custody rules differ between US states, England and Wales (where the term is "child arrangements"), Australia ("parenting arrangements") and Canada ("parenting time").

What each split means in nights per year

Percentages are easiest to check as nights. A year has 365 nights, so each split works out like this:

Because a week has 7 nights and most schedules repeat every one or two weeks, exact splits are rare. The schedules people call 60/40, 70/30 and 80/20 actually land here:

These numbers count where the child sleeps each night, before holidays and summer breaks. A handover is any night the child sleeps in a different home from the night before, including a handover that happens at the school gate. Holiday time usually moves the numbers toward the parent with fewer regular nights; the parenting time calculator lets you add your own holiday blocks.

In every table below, each row is a night of the week and each column is one week of the cycle. "A" means the child sleeps at parent A's home that night, "B" at parent B's.

60/40 custody schedule examples

4-3 schedule (57/43)

The child spends Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights with parent B every week and the rest with parent A. The same pattern repeats every week, so it is easy for a young child to learn.

The Oregon Judicial Department's sample schedules include a weekly split of this shape for children aged 3 to 12, described as giving a consistent routine and keeping the child apart from each parent for only a few days at a time. The trade-off is that parent B has every Friday and Saturday night and parent A never does, so many families swap a weekend now and then.

Every extended weekend (57/43)

The child stays with parent B from Friday after school until Monday drop-off, every week. Parent A has every school night.

The night count is identical to the 4-3 schedule. The practical difference: parent B does a Monday school run every week and never helps with weekday homework, while parent A never has a weekend with the child.

Alternating extended weekends plus a weekly midweek overnight (64/36)

Parent B has every Wednesday night, plus every other weekend from Friday after school to Monday morning. This is 5 nights in 14.

It is often sold as 60/40 and sits between 60/40 and 70/30. It matches the weekly rhythm of Utah's optional parent-time schedule for children aged 5 to 18, which also adds holidays and up to four weeks of summer time. With those included, the Utah statute counts the schedule as 145 overnights a year, which is very close to an exact 60/40 (146 nights). That is a good illustration of how holidays move a split.

70/30 custody schedule examples

All three versions below give parent B about 104 nights a year (71/29). They differ in how the nights are grouped and how many handovers they need.

Alternating long weekends (71/29)

Parent B has every other weekend from Thursday after school to Monday morning: four nights in a row, then ten nights with parent A.

This has the fewest handovers of any 70/30 pattern, about 52 a year. The downside is a ten-night gap, which can feel long for younger children.

Every other weekend plus a weekly midweek overnight (71/29)

Parent B has every Wednesday night, plus every other weekend from Friday after school to Sunday evening.

The child never goes more than six nights without seeing parent B, but there are about 156 handovers a year. That works best when both homes are close to school.

Every third weekend plus a weekly midweek overnight (71/29)

Parent B has every Wednesday night, plus one weekend in three from Friday after school to Monday morning. The cycle is 21 days, so the table shows three weeks.

This suits a parent B who works most weekends but has a regular weekday off. A three-week cycle is harder to remember, so a shared calendar matters more here.

Oregon's sample schedule for children aged 3 to 5 includes a close cousin of these: a three-night weekend on alternate weeks plus one overnight in the other week, which also works out to 4 nights in 14.

80/20 custody schedule examples

Every other extended weekend (79/21)

Parent B has every other weekend from Friday after school to Monday morning. That is 3 nights in 14, about 78 nights a year.

Every other weekend plus a midweek overnight in the off week (79/21)

Parent B has every other weekend from Friday to Sunday evening, plus Wednesday night in the week without a weekend. Same night count as above, but the longest stretch without parent B shrinks from eleven nights to eight.

Every other weekend (86/14)

Parent B has every other weekend from Friday after school to Sunday evening: 2 nights in 14, about 52 nights a year. It is often called 80/20, but it is closer to 85/15.

Many plans add a weekday dinner visit to this pattern. That adds contact but not overnights, so the percentage stays the same. Oregon's sample schedules for children aged 3 to 18 include this shape (one or two weekend nights on alternate weeks plus one weekday evening) for a parent who has not been the main caregiver or whose work schedule is inflexible.

Which children and situations each split tends to suit

There is no universal right answer, and courts decide on a child's best interests, not on a formula. The most detailed public guidance we found comes from the Oregon Judicial Department's parenting plan guide (sample schedules revised in 2008). It groups schedules by age and by how involved each parent has been in day-to-day care. Its main points:

• Under 3. The samples rely on frequent, shorter contact and at most one or two overnights a week, spaced out. For children 24 to 36 months, the guide says that ideally the child should not be apart from either parent for more than 4 days. None of the guide's samples for this age use long weekend blocks; patterns such as every other weekend leave gaps of ten nights or more.
• 3 to 5. The guide notes these children are better able to hold an absent parent in memory and may benefit from blocks of time with each parent. Its samples range from alternate weekends plus a weekday evening up to weekly splits.
• 6 to 12. School becomes the anchor. The samples include weekly splits that let both parents be involved in school, and four overnights in a row in one week plus one overnight in the other (5 nights in 14, the same count as the 64/36 example above).
• 13 to 18. The guide notes that many teens want a say in the plan and need flexibility for friends and activities. Its sample for a less involved parent keeps one home as "home base".

Practical points that matter as much as age:

• Work schedules. Shift work or weekend work often points to a midweek-based pattern such as every third weekend plus a midweek overnight.
• Who did the day-to-day care before. Oregon's guide sorts its samples by that question: one tier for a parent who has not been the primary caregiver, one for a parent who was involved day to day, and one for a parent who was involved to a significant extent and wants as much contact as possible.
• Handovers. If handovers are tense, choose a pattern that places them at school or daycare, and favor fewer handovers (alternating long weekends: about 52 a year) over more (weekly midweek overnights: about 156).
• Siblings. Siblings often share a schedule, but Oregon's form includes a separate page for a child whose needs differ from their siblings'.

Distance between homes

Distance often decides the split before anything else does. A midweek overnight only works if parent B can get the child to school the next morning without a long drive. Utah's optional schedule tells courts to look at the distance between the parents' homes and between each home and the child's school before granting the extra time. Oregon publishes a separate parenting plan for parents who live more than 60 miles apart, with one schedule for 60 to 180 miles and another for more than 180 miles.

As a rough guide:

• Same school area. All patterns on this page are workable, including weekly midweek overnights.
• Different school areas, short drive. Weekend-based patterns (every extended weekend, alternating long weekends) avoid school-morning drives.
• Long distance. Regular schedules shrink to weekends that are less frequent but longer, and much of the time moves into school holidays and summer. The percentage then depends mainly on the holiday plan, not the weekly rhythm.

How to change a split later

Splits often change as children grow, as parents move, or as work changes. A common path is every other weekend while a child is very young, then adding a midweek overnight, then moving to a 70/30 or 60/40 pattern.

How you change it depends on whether the current split is an informal agreement or a court order:

• United States. It depends on the state. In Oregon, for example, parents who agree on every change can file a stipulated (agreed) modification, and a separate form packet covers a contested request. The Oregon page also notes that changing child support through the state program generally requires 36 months since the last order or a substantial change of circumstances.
• England and Wales. GOV.UK says you can both agree to do something different from a court order, but you cannot enforce that new arrangement later unless the court approves it, for example as a consent order. If you disagree, you can ask the court to vary the order.
• Australia. Victoria Legal Aid explains that a minor change is not enough for a court to change an order unless both parents agree, and that for orders made on or after 1 July 2006 parents can make a later parenting plan with different arrangements.
• Canada. For an order under the Divorce Act, the Department of Justice explains that you must show an important change in your life or your child's, called a "change in circumstances".

Whichever applies, put the new pattern in writing with a start date, and keep the old and new calendars side by side for the first month so both homes count the same nights.

How the split can affect child support

In several systems the number of overnights feeds directly into child support, so a change from 79/21 to 71/29 can change payments, not just the calendar. A few verified examples:

• Child Maintenance Service (GOV.UK). Payments are reduced at 52 nights a year or more, in bands (52 to 103 nights, 104 to 155, 156 to 174, and 175 or more).
• Australia. Services Australia uses nights per year to set a "level of care": 52 to 127 nights is "regular care", 128 to 237 nights is "shared care".
• Canada. Under section 9 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines, a different calculation applies when each parent has at least 40% of parenting time over a year (146 nights, if time is counted by nights).
• Utah. The statute counts its optional schedule as 145 overnights for child support purposes.

Notice how many of the schedules on this page sit right next to these lines: every other weekend gives about 52 nights, and the 70/30 patterns give about 104. One missed or extra weekend can cross a band. If support is part of your decision, use your own jurisdiction's official calculator, count holidays, and get advice before agreeing a split.

For equal time

If you are looking at equal-time schedules rather than 60/40, 70/30 or 80/20, the usual patterns are:

• 50/50: each parent has 182 or 183 nights a year.
• 2-2-3: two nights, two nights, three nights, with the long weekend alternating.
• 2-2-5-5: each parent keeps the same two weekday nights, and five-night blocks alternate.
• 3-4-4-3: three and four nights one week, four and three the next.
• Week on, week off: seven nights in a row with each parent, alternating weekly.