(Web Page updated 11-29-09)
PLEASE TAKE NOTE: Counties change their local visitation schedules. The county you live in may have changed their rule(s) yesterday. The county you live in may have different visitation schedules for Juvenile Court and Domestic Court. The rule may have been changed or updated since the last time this web page was updated. In addition, if you already have a visitation schedule pursuant to local rule, and that schedule was attached to your parenting time orders, it is POSSIBLE that the court did not mean for YOUR visitation schedule to change if the local visitation schedule in your county changes. The local visitation schedules are put on this website as a courtesy and are updated as often as possible. They are NOT legal advice and they are NOT meant to help you figure out if a decision you are about to make would be a violation of an existing court order. If you want to make sure that you have the most current version of the local rule in your county, you can either look on your county Clerk of Court’s website, go to your local Clerk of Court’s office, or call your local Clerk of Court.
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If you know that the court in this county has implemented a new rule, PLEASE tell us by e-mailing us at info@cornwell-law.com and we will update our website.
The office of the Clerk of Court cannot give you legal advice. This website, although prepared in part by attorneys, cannot and does not give you legal advice. You can only get legal advice by talking to an attorney of your choice about the facts of your case, and the law as it applies to the facts of your case.
If you understand the information you have just read and would like to see the most recent local rule visitation schedule we have on our website, see the information below:
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Pickaway County
Local Rule 18.11(A)
Companionship and Visitation Schedule
Companionship is a time for children to do things with the parent with whom they do not live. Activities you can do with them or skills you can teach them help the time to be rewarding. Helping the children find friends in your neighborhood also makes it seem like home for them.
Liberal visitation arrangements are encouraged, as extensive contact with both parents is important to the children. Specific items in the judgment entry can take precedence over this schedule. Changes or modifications can be made by the Court if the need for such is shown. This schedule does not affect support payments, nor does it apply to parents living more than 200 miles apart. The Long-Distance Companionship Schedule shall apply to parents living far apart.
I. VISITATION:
Companionship between the children and the non-residential parent shall take place at such times and places as the parties may agree, but in the absence of agreement, will not be less than:
A. INFANTS UP TO 12 MONTHS:
Every Sunday from 12:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. and one weekday evening from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. If the parents cannot agree, the weekday shall be Wednesday. The non-residential parent shall also have holiday visitations on Easter, the Fourth of July and Christmas Day from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. The children shall be with the mother on Mother’s Day and with the father on Father’s Day, resulting in the non-residential parent exercising his or her Sunday visitation on Saturday on that particular weekend. The non-residential parent shall not exercise the one evening per week on any holiday. Said visitation shall be modified so as not to interfere with breastfeeding in the event the mother is nursing the child.
B. FROM 12 MONTHS UNTIL 18 MONTHS:
Every other weekend from 10:00 a.m. on Saturday until 6:00 p.m. on Sunday and one weekday evening from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. If the parents cannot agree, the weekday shall be Wednesday. The non-residential parent shall also have holiday visitation on Easter, the Fourth of July and Christmas day from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. The children shall be with the mother on Mother’s Day and with the father on Father’s Day, resulting in the non-residential parent exercising his or her visitation from 10:00 a.m. on Friday until 6:00p.m. on Saturday if it falls on that particular weekend. The non-residential parent shall not exercise the one evening per week on any holiday.
C. AFTER 18 MONTHS OF AGE:
- Weekends:
Alternate weekends from Friday at 6:00 p.m. until Sunday at 6:00 p.m. - Weekdays:
One weekday evening per week from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. If the parents cannot agree, the weekday shall be Wednesday. - Holidays and School Vacations:
In the odd-numbered year, mother shall have visitation on Martin Luther King Day (if observed by school), Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and the second half of Christmas vacation (if applicable). Father shall have visitation on President’s Day, spring vacation (if applicable), Memorial Day, Labor Day, and the first week of Christmas vacation (if applicable) and Christmas Eve. In the even-numbered years, the schedules are reversed. Following are general rules for holiday visitation:- holiday which falls on a weekend should be spent with the parent who is supposed to have the children for that holiday. The rest of the weekend is spent with the parent who would normally have that weekend. These do not have to be made up.
- Mother’s Day and Father’s Day shall be spent with the appropriate parent. The times are from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. These do not have to be made up.
- Other days of special meaning such as religious holidays shall be decided together, written into the court order, and alternated as above. These do not have to be made up.
- Spring break shall be applicable for all children when one or more is of school age and receives spring break from school. It shall commence at 6:00 p.m. on the day school is out until 6:00 p.m. on the day before school recommences.
- Easter shall be from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. unless at least one child is entitled to spring break from school and Easter is during that time, in which case, subsection (d) hereinabove shall apply.
- Memorial Day shall be from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.
- Fourth of July shall be from 9:00 a.m. on July 4th until 9:00 a.m. the next day.
- Labor Day shall be from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.
- Thanksgiving shall be from 6:00 p.m. on the day before Thanksgiving until 6:00 p.m. on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
- Christmas Eve shall be from 6:00 p.m. on December 23rd until 8:00 p.m. on December 24th.
- Christmas Day shall be from 8:00 p.m. on December 24th until 8:00 p.m. on December 25th.
- At such time as one or more children is of school age and entitled to a Christmas vacation, then the Christmas holiday shall consist of the entire school vacation, with the first half of Christmas vacation commencing at 6:00 p.m. on the day school is out until 10:00 a.m. on December 25th, and the second half commencing at 10:00 a.m. on December 25th through 6:00 p.m. on New Year’s Day.
- Should the non-residential parent have visitation on a weekend immediately preceding a Monday holiday to which he or she is also entitled, then said non-residential parent need not return the children on Sunday at 6:00 p.m., but may continue visitation until the end of the Monday holiday.
- 48 hours notice shall be given by the parent with whom the holiday is being spent for any arrangements for out of town travel on the holidays or change in pick-up/return times.
- Birthdays:
The children’s birthdays shall be alternated between the parents on an annual basis, with mother to have the children in all odd-numbered years and father to have the children in all even-numbered years. The visitation shall be from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. unless the birthday falls on a school day, in which case it shall be from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Brothers and sisters shall attend the birthday event. Birthday visitation shall take precedence over regular weekend visitation and all holidays excepting Christmas Day, Easter or other major religious holidays. These do not have to be made up. - Summer:
Four weeks of companionship each year to be arranged with 45 days advance notice by the non-residential parent. The residential parent must give the non-residential parent 60 days notice of vacations or special plans for the child to avoid planning conflicts. In the event the child must attend summer school in order to pass to the next grade, school must be attended. Said visitation shall be exercised in one week non-consecutive periods for children under three years of age and in one or two week non-consecutive periods for children three years of age and over. - Vacations:
Each parent may arrange an uninterrupted vacation of not more than two weeks with the children. The non-residential parent shall schedule this during his or her four-week summer visitation, and the residential parent shall schedule this at a time other than the non-residential parent’s four week summer visitation. A general itinerary shall be provided to the other parent, including dates, locations, addresses and telephone numbers. Holiday and birthday celebrations with either parent shall not be missed. Scheduling of the vacation around these events shall be required or the missed occasion be made up if the parties so agree. Alternate weekends which are missed during vacation are not required to be made up. A vacation is defined as a parent’s vacation time off from work where that parents spends time with the children.
II. TRANSPORTATION:
Unless otherwise agreed upon or ordered by the Court, and subject to paragraph XI, the non-residential parent shall be responsible for all transportation involving exchanges of children for visitation. The parent providing transportation may employ another responsible adult known well and trusted by the child or children when necessary.
If this provision causes an inequitable hardship on the non-residential parent due to the distances involved, economic circumstances, or work schedules, the parties are urged to share transportation responsibilities. The Court upon application shall make an order it considers equitable.
III. SPECIAL ACTIVITIES:
The residential parent shall not unilaterally schedule special activities for the children which necessarily will conflict with or limit the visitation of the non-residential parent. However, activities of a continuing nature which are important to the child(ren) and an integral part of the responsibility of the residential parent, such as regular or compulsory church attendance or religious training, regular extracurricular activities including academic clubs, sports, cheerleading, and musical and dramatic organizations, and summer recreation programs such as little league baseball, should be encouraged. In such instances, the non-residential parent shall be responsible for good faith efforts to help the children participate when activities occur during scheduled visitation.
IV. CHILDREN RESIDING WITH DIFFERENT PARENTS:
Whenever the children are “split” between the parents, that is, one or more residing with the mother and one or more residing with the father, all visitation under this Schedule shall be coordinated so that the children are together on all weekends and holidays.
V. VISITATION SHALL NOT CONFLICT WITH SCHOOL ATTENDANCE:
If any one of the holidays listed above are not school holidays, the non-residential parent shall not be entitled to visitation on said holiday
VI. RELATIONSHIP WITH CHILD:
No overnight visitation shall commence at any age unless the non-residential parent has had an ongoing relationship with the child, such as in the case of recently separated parents, or exercised regular visitations at least during the past 60 days. The purpose of this section is to prevent undue fright or disruption for the child who has little or no contact with the non-residential parent. In such circumstances, the non-residential parent should exercise visitation as if the child were an infant under this Schedule for 60 days before beginning overnight visitation.
VII. CANCELLATION:
The non-residential parent shall give 24 hours notice to cancel. The time canceled by the non-residential parent is forfeited.
VIII. ILLNESS:
If a child is ill, the residential parent should give 24 hours notice if possible, so appropriate plans can be made. However, if more than one day of any visitation weekend, holiday, or vacation is missed to a non-emergency or non-critical illness, then any missed visitation shall be made up as soon as practicable.
IX. MAKE-UP VISITATION:
Any make-up visitation required by this Schedule shall occur the first weekend of the other parent immediately following the missed visitation, and shall continue during the other parent’s weekends until made up in full, including partial weekends.
X. WAITING:
The children and residential parent have no duty to await the visiting parent more than 30 minutes past the visitation time. A parent who is more than 30 minutes late forfeits companionship for that period, unless the delay is reasonable, advance notice is given, and other arrangements have been made, which do not work a hardship on the child or residential parent.
XI. MOVING:
Upon either parent learning that he or she will be moving, he or she shall immediately notify the other parent and provide the other parent with the moving date, new residence address and telephone number, and such other pertinent information necessary to effectuate a smooth move for the children. The parents shall attempt in good faith to renegotiate an appropriate and beneficial new companionship schedule. If they are unable to do so, the non-residential parent shall, at a minimum, enjoy the existing companionship schedule for distances under 200 miles or the long-distance visitation for distances farther than 200 miles. If the residential parent moves farther than fifty (50) miles from his/her current residence, then he/she shall bear the expense and responsibility of transportation until a court order modifying visitation is entered. In the event the residential parent learns or determines that he or she will be moving, he or she shall file a notice of intent to relocate with this Court, and this Court shall send a copy of the notice to the non-residential parent.
XII. ACCESS TO RECORDS:
The non-residential parent shall have access to all medical, dental, optical, and psychological records of the minor children, and may consult with any treating physician, dentist, health care provider or teacher or school official regarding the children. The residential parent hereby assigns to the nonresidential parent the authority to consent to any necessary emergency medical treatment for the children. Each parent shall notify the other of any health problems of the children.
The non-residential parent shall have the same access as the residential parent to the children’s school records. The non-residential parent shall have the right to participate in parent/teacher conferences, school trips, school programs, and other events in which parents are invited to participate. The parent receiving the notices of such events, as well as the grade card, shall give a copy to the other parent within three days of receipt. Any keeper of records or school official or employee who knowingly fails to comply with this Order is in contempt of court
XIII. CHILD DAY CARE CENTER:
The non-residential parent shall be entitled to access to any child day care center that is attended by the minor children of the parties.
XIV. TELEPHONE ACCESS:
Unless otherwise excused by the Court, each parent shall disclose to the other his/her home telephone number. The children must be allowed to communicate by telephone on time per week with both parents, regardless of with whom the child is currently residing. Both parents shall permit no less than one-half hour conversations. The calling party shall bear the expense. The children may call either parent collect at any and all reasonable times as he or she wishes. Telephone communication shall not be monitored or censored.
XV. CURRENT ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBER:
Each parent must keep the other informed of his or her current address and telephone number at all times.
XVI. SCHEDULE TO BE FURNISHED PARTIES:
Attorneys representing parties in domestic relations actions in this Court where there are no minor children shall furnish their clients with a copy of this Schedule when applicable. A copy of the applicable visitation schedule shall be attached to the decree of dissolution or divorce and made a part thereof with any change in the schedule being noted in the decree.