Holiday Custody Schedules in Pennsylvania: Reading Your Order, Fixing It Before Thanksgiving, and What to Do When It Is Ignored

Scope. This guide is for parents with a Pennsylvania custody order, or a custody case, in Northampton or Lehigh County who want the holidays to go smoothly. It explains:

• how to read the holiday terms in an order;
• how to change them in time for Thanksgiving and the winter break;
• how holiday travel differs from relocation;
• what to do if the other parent does not follow the schedule.

It is general information, not legal advice. Your order and the court's current instructions control. Official sources were checked on September 28, 2026.

The short version

• Your order controls. Read the holiday section now, not the week of the holiday. If the order is silent about a holiday, the regular schedule generally applies unless you both agree otherwise. If there is no custody order yet, there is no holiday schedule to enforce; file a custody complaint promptly.
• Changing it takes time. Statewide rules require your first in-person contact with the court, such as a conference, to be scheduled to take place within 45 days after you file. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, 2026. A petition filed in mid-October may not be heard before then.
• Agreements help, but put them in writing. The court enforces the order, not a text message. To make a lasting change enforceable, ask the court to sign it as an order.
• A holiday trip is not a relocation. Relocation rules apply to moves that significantly impair the other parent's custodial rights. Follow any travel terms in your order.
• If the schedule is ignored, do not retaliate. Keep following the order, document what happened, and use the court process. A missed holiday is usually not an emergency, but a child's safety always comes first.

Reading the holiday terms in your order

Many custody orders have three layers: the regular weekly schedule, a holiday schedule, and vacation time. Read them together, then answer these questions:

• Which holidays are listed? Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are common. Religious and family holidays can be listed too.
• Does the holiday schedule override the regular schedule? Many orders say so. If yours does not, raise it before a conflict.
• What are the exact start and end times? "Thanksgiving" can mean the whole day, a split day, or the Wednesday evening through Friday. Vague terms are a common source of holiday disputes.
• Who has the holiday this year? Many orders alternate holidays between odd-numbered and even-numbered years. Check which parent has 2026.
• How is the winter break divided? Look for the school calendar, the exchange date and whether the holidays inside the break follow their own rule.
• Where, when and how do exchanges happen? Note who drives and what happens if a parent is late.
• Are there calls or video calls on the holiday? Some orders give the other parent contact time.
• Is there a right of first refusal? Some orders require a parent to offer the other parent the chance to care for the child before using a babysitter. It applies only if your order includes it.
• Are there travel terms? Some orders require notice, an itinerary, or consent for overnight, out-of-state or international travel.

Custody terms, briefly. "Legal custody" is "[t]he right to make major decisions on behalf of the child, including, but not limited to, medical, religious and educational decisions." "Physical custody" is "[t]he actual physical possession and control of a child." 23 Pa.C.S. § 5322. A parent with partial physical custody has "[t]he right to assume physical custody of the child for less than a majority of the time." Holiday provisions usually adjust physical custody; they do not change who holds legal custody.

Common holiday arrangements. No statute prescribes a holiday schedule. The court decides what serves the child's best interest under 23 Pa.C.S. § 5328, which the Pennsylvania legislature revised in 2025 (see our article on the current custody factors). Orders often use one of these patterns:

• Alternating years. One parent has Thanksgiving in even-numbered years and the other in odd-numbered years.
• Splitting the day. Christmas Eve with one parent and Christmas Day with the other, or a morning and afternoon split.
• Fixed holidays. A holiday that always goes to the same parent, such as Mother's Day or Father's Day.
• Dividing the break. The winter break is split in halves, with a set exchange date.

An order that says holidays are "as the parties agree" works only while the parents agree. If you already know you will not, fix it now.

Changing the holiday schedule before Thanksgiving

By agreement. Parents can agree to a different holiday plan. Put the agreement in writing, with dates and times. A written agreement is evidence, but the court enforces its order. If the change should last beyond this year, ask the court to enter it as an order. In Northampton County, an agreement reached at the conciliation conference goes to a judge to sign as an order. In Lehigh County, parties "meet with a hearing officer in an effort to reach a settlement."

By petition. If you cannot agree, file a petition to modify. "Upon petition, a court may modify a custody order to serve the best interest of the child." 23 Pa.C.S. § 5338(a). Ask for specific terms: which holidays, which years, the exact times, the exchange place and travel notice.

Timing. Under statewide rules, the parties' first in-person contact with the court "shall be scheduled to occur not later than 45 days from the filing of a complaint or petition." Pa.R.C.P. 1915.4(a). That first contact can be a conference or a class, and the deadline is for that contact, not for a decision. Counting back 45 days from Thanksgiving lands on Monday, October 12, 2026, which is Columbus Day, so check whether the courthouse is open. For Christmas, which falls on Friday, December 25, it lands on Tuesday, November 10. File as early as you can, and expect that a contested case may take longer.

Where to file:

• Northampton County. The court's self-help instructions direct filers to the Mediation Room on the courthouse's first floor, across from the District Attorney's Office. "You must sign in by 8:45am. No pleadings will be accepted after 9:30am." The Custody Office reviews the papers first. Then the Prothonotary files the petition and assigns a conference date. Bring the current custody order and the court's required forms, including the criminal record and abuse history verification.
• Lehigh County. "Effective January 1, 2020, except as specifically exempted by the Court, electronic filing is mandatory in all Custody and Divorce cases." The custody office in Room 423 (Family Court Division, 4th floor) offers help with custody complaints and petitions from 12:15 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on weekdays. Its phone number is (610) 782-3390.

New custody filings can also trigger each county's co-parenting class requirement. Our Northampton and Lehigh family-court guides explain the local steps.

When it cannot wait. Statewide rules let the court grant "appropriate interim or special relief," including "the award of temporary legal or physical custody." Pa.R.C.P. 1915.13. The rule is not limited to emergencies, but a petition should show why the issue cannot wait for the regular process, and safety concerns are the clearest case. A holiday dispute that could have been raised weeks earlier is unlikely to be expedited, so raise it as soon as you see it. Each county handles urgent requests differently:

• Northampton County. Under the county's custody procedures order, emergency or time-sensitive petitions go through the Custody Office before being presented to the Motions Judge. Non-emergency special-relief petitions ordinarily go to conciliation first.
• Lehigh County. A special-relief petition must be filed together with a custody complaint or a petition to modify. It may be presented "to Family Court Administration for scheduling or … pursuant to Lehigh County Rules of Civil Procedure." Relief granted without notice to the other parent "shall be an interim order," and the court then schedules a hearing after notice. Lehigh County Local Rule 1915.13.

Holiday travel is not relocation

Pennsylvania's relocation rules apply to "[a] change in a residence of the child which significantly impairs the ability of a nonrelocating party to exercise custodial rights." 23 Pa.C.S. § 5322. A proposed relocation needs the consent of every person with custody rights or the court's approval, and notice is generally due 60 days in advance. 23 Pa.C.S. § 5337. A trip to see family over the holidays does not change the child's residence, so the relocation rules generally do not apply to it.

Travel can still cause conflict:

• Follow your order's travel terms. If it requires notice or an itinerary, give them in writing and early.
• Keep the trip inside your time. The travel should not cut into the other parent's holiday or regular custody time.
• Plan for passports. For a U.S. passport for a child under 16, the State Department says "[b]oth parents or guardians must be present with the child applying in person." Alternatives are a notarized consent form (Form DS-3053) or a court order giving one parent sole custody or permission to apply. Start early.
• Raise disputes now. If the order is silent and you expect an objection, include travel terms in a petition to modify well before the trip.

If you are planning an actual move, read our custody page on relocation and get advice first.

When the other parent ignores the holiday schedule

Put the child's safety first. If a child is in danger, call 911. The steps below assume a custody order exists; without one, contempt is not available, and the first step is a custody complaint. If there has been abuse, our guide to seeking a PFA explains emergency protection.

Do not retaliate. Keep following the order, even if the other parent did not. Withholding the child in return can hurt your own case and expose you to contempt.

Document what happened. Save texts and emails, and keep a dated log of missed or late exchanges. Keep communication in writing and about the schedule.

Know what the police will and will not do. Lehigh County's court says: "The police generally don't get involved in custody disputes unless specifically required by the order." Police can respond to a safety concern. A missed exchange is ordinarily resolved in family court.

File for contempt. "A party who willfully fails to comply with any custody order may, as prescribed by general rule, be adjudged in contempt." 23 Pa.C.S. § 5323(g)(1). The statute lists these possible sanctions:

• "Imprisonment for a period of not more than six months."
• "A fine of not more than $500."
• "Probation for a period of not more than six months."
• An order affecting the violator's driving privileges.
• "Counsel fees and costs."

The court must find that the other parent "had notice of the specific order," that the violation "was volitional," and that the parent "acted with wrongful intent." You must prove the violation by a preponderance of the evidence. J.M. v. K.W., 164 A.3d 1260 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2017) (en banc). A clear, specific holiday provision is much easier to enforce than a vague one. Separately, a court may award counsel fees "if the court finds that the conduct of another party was obdurate, vexatious, repetitive or in bad faith." 23 Pa.C.S. § 5339.

Ask for what you actually need. The statewide form petition asks that the other parent "be held in contempt of court." Pa.R.C.P. 1915.12. If you also want make-up time, say so expressly; the statute's sanctions list does not mention it, and whether to order it is the judge's decision. Contempt also is not a shortcut to a new schedule. "It is settled that an adjudication of contempt is not a proper basis to modify an existing custody arrangement." J.M. v. K.W., 164 A.3d 1260. If you want the holiday schedule itself changed, file a petition to modify as well.

How each county handles contempt:

• Northampton County. The court's self-help packet for a contempt petition follows the same Mediation Room sign-in rules as a modification. It includes the current order and the criminal record and abuse history verification form.
• Lehigh County. "Prior to filing a petition for civil contempt, the moving party shall obtain a scheduling order from Family Court Administration which shall direct the appearance of the parties for office conference." If the matter is not resolved at the conference, "it shall be scheduled for a hearing before a judge." Lehigh County Local Rule 1915.12.

A criminal statute can apply in serious cases. Pennsylvania's interference-with-custody law gives a parent a defense when the parent "is not acting contrary to an order entered by a court of competent jurisdiction." 18 Pa.C.S. § 2904(b)(3). A parent who takes or keeps a child in violation of a custody order can lose that defense, so the situation can become a criminal matter in some circumstances. The statute has other defenses, and the grade depends on the facts. Get advice before relying on it or responding to it.

Northampton and Lehigh County at a glance

Courthouses close for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and filing windows are short. Check the court calendar and current instructions before you go.

How a lawyer helps

A lawyer can:

• Read the order with you. Identify gaps before they become a dispute.
• Negotiate specific terms. Draft holiday language with exact dates, times and exchanges, and turn an agreement into a court order.
• File in time. Prepare a modification petition early enough to matter, and decide whether special relief is realistic.
• Enforce the order. Build the record for contempt, and ask for the remedies that fit, including counsel fees and, where appropriate, make-up time.
• Coordinate related cases. Connect custody with any PFA, support or criminal matter.

Talk to a Northampton County custody lawyer

Madsen Law Offices handles custody conferences, modifications and contempt petitions in Northampton and Lehigh Counties from our office next to the Northampton County Courthouse. If your holiday schedule is unclear, or the other parent is already refusing to follow it, call (484) 548-0529 or schedule a consultation. Next-day appointments are often available.