PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO
STANDARD VISITATION GUIDELINES

The best visitation/companionship schedule is you own plan.  However, if you cannot agree, the Court designed this schedule to insure that your child(ren) will have frequent and consistent contact with the non-residential parent.

 If there are objections to this plan because of special circumstances (for example: travel time, work schedules), or problems (for example: substance abuse, mental illness, violence), you must present specific facts in a scheduled hearing stating why this visitation schedule is not in the best interest of your child.

PLEASE NOTE: Summer vacations shall take precedence over the holiday schedule and the holiday schedule shall take precedence over the normal weekly schedule.

THE NON-RESIDENTIAL PARENT SHALL HAVE VISITATION:

1. Alternate weekends from Friday at 6:00 P.M. to Sunday evening at 6:00 P.M.
2. One evening/or day per week if possible.  If the parties cannot agree it shall be Wednesday from 5:00 P.M. until 8:00 P.M.
3. For visitation, there are seven holidays: 1) New Year's Day; 2) Martin Luther King Day; 3) Easter; 4) Memorial Day;  5) Fourth of July; 6) Labor Day; and 7) Thanksgiving.  In the odd-numbered years, the mother shall have the children on the odd-numbered holidays and the father shall have visitation on the even-numbered holidays.  In the even numbered years, the father shall have the odd-numbered holidays and the mother the even-numbered holidays.  The number assigned to a holiday is by assignment not a date.
4. The hours for holiday visitation shall be from 9:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M., unless otherwise agreed by the parties.
5. Every other Spring Break with the mother having the odd-numbered years.
6. Every year at Christmas the residential parent shall have the children for one-half the school break and Christmas Day.  The other parent shall have the children for one-half the school break and Christmas Eve until 9:00 P.M.
7. Mother's Day and Father's Day are to be with the appropriate parent, no matter what the visitation schedule.
8. A six-week visitation each Summer to be arranged for the moment the vacation schedules are posted, or at least 30 days prior to the visitation, so that the parties have an opportunity to take the children for vacations.  During the six-week visitation support shall abate by one-half and the main residential parent shall be entitled to visitation every other weekend if possible.
9. The child shall celebrate his or her birthday in the home of the residential parent, unless it falls on a visitation day.
10. For children from birth to three (3) years.  For children of this age there is no standard schedule.  The Court suggests 2-3 weekly visits for 2-6 hours, on the days and times the parties can agree.  If the parties cannot agree, then the days shall be every Saturday from 2:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. and every Tuesday and/or Thursday from 5:30 P.M. until 8:00 P.M., unless otherwise ordered by the Court.
11. This is the minimum schedule of companionship and the non-residential parent is entitled to any other visitation as the parties may agree.
12. Visitation does not mean picking the children up and then leaving them with someone else.
13. The children and the residential parent have no duty to await the other parent for more than thirty (30) minutes of the agreed visitation time.  A parent late more than thirty (30) minutes shall forfeit that visitation period.
14. NOTIFICATION OF CHANGE OF RESIDENCE
15. Each parent shall keep the other parent, Court, and CSEA notified of any change in address and/or telephone number.  If the residential parent intends to move to a residence outside a contiguous county, he/she shall immediately file a Notice of Intent to Relocate with the Court and shall serve copies upon the Court, CSEA, and the other parent.  The residential parent shall not relocate without obtaining a revised companionship schedule, if necessary.
16. ACCESS TO RECORDS, DAY CARE AND ACTIVITIES
17. Each party is entitled, under the same terms and conditions under which access is provided to the residential parent, to access:
• ANY SCHOOL, HEALTH, OR AGENCY RECORDS OR REPORTS THAT ARE RELATED TO THE CHILD(REN)
• ANY CHILD DAY CARE CENTER WHICH THE CHILD ATTENDS; AND
• ANY STUDENT ACTIVITY IN WHICH THE CHILD(REN) PARTICIPATE O.R.C. 3109.051 (H), (I), (J).