April 2023 Texas Standard Possession Order – Summer Notice!

Hello, everyone. It is April 2023 and it is time to talk about the Texas Standard Possession Order. It’s a big month because it is time to give notice for any custom summer extended possession, and it is also time for the custodial parent to give notice for their weekend inside the extended summer possession of the non-custodial parent.

I’m not going to get into a super detailed analysis of what the notice provision looks like. I have already done a video on that, and I’m going to put a link for that in the video. You can go back and review that. I get into more detail on, well, what the provisions say, what they look like, and what it means, so I encourage you to go look at that.

I also have another link that I’m going to attach to the video that talks about summer FAQs. So just all the questions I’d get when the summer arises, the repetitive questions, so I try to answer them in one spot. So go have a look at those videos and that will kind of get you up to speed for the upcoming summer and the notice provisions.

Thursdays and Weekends This Month

This is what the month of April 2023 is going to look like. We have, of course, our Thursdays this month, which are going to be the 6th, the 13th, the 20th, and the 27th of the month.

We have a first and third weekend. We have the 7th, which is the first Friday of the month and we have the 21st, which is the third Friday of the month, because we know everything is measured by Fridays, and it is the first, third, and fifth Friday of the month.

If you’re noticing this yellow up here for March 31st, I encourage you to go back and look at the March video and understand what’s going on there, but yes, you’re looking at back-to-back weekends for the non-custodial parent.

Holiday

We have a potential holiday here in April, Good Friday. I’m not sure if all kids are out for Good Friday, or if only some are, but I do believe some kids are out for Good Friday. If that is the case, you’re going to refer, non-custodial parent, to the section of your order that talks about a weekend extended by a holiday. It is a paragraph that you will find in your final decree of divorce.

If Good Friday is a holiday, then your weekend will have been extended to Thursday pick up most likely, as opposed to picking up Friday at 6:00 PM. So just read your order and look at the time. Some people will have pickup after school. I know all people have different times when they pick up and drop off, so just refer to your order under the weekend extended by a holiday provision if your child is out of school for Good Friday. I’m not aware of anybody out on Monday after Easter, so I’m not really discussing that.

Custodial parent, your weekends are the second and fourth Fridays of the month, so you can see those here. And other than that, there’s not a whole lot to this month other than the notice provisions.

Summer Notice Provisions

We have the April 1st deadline to give custom extended summer possession notice. If you want custom dates, this is your date to pick them by.

You have to pick no more than two periods, so you can’t pick four separate periods or five separate periods. And each period has to be at least seven days, so you can’t pick three days one week and four the next week. You have to have a minimum of seven days, two periods. So, if you picked seven, then your next one’s going to be 23, all right?

If you want to go custom, this is your deadline to notify the custodial parent of your custom dates. If you don’t want to go custom and you just want your default dates, then you do not have to do anything, because if you do not give notice, you are going to get July 1st to July 31st. Therefore, you do not have to give notice by April 1st if you do not want custom dates.

Custodial parent, your deadline for notice is April 15th. So regardless of if you get notice or do not get a notice from the non-custodial parent, either they select custom dates or they do not, they’re going to get the default dates. Regardless, whatever happens, if you get a notice by April 1st or if you do not get a notice by April 1st, you have up until April 15th to pick a weekend inside of the extended summer possession of the non-custodial parent.

That means you get one weekend inside their 30 days. If they break it into two separate periods of seven and 23, then you pick a weekend inside the 23. But you get one weekend inside their extended summer possession, and this is your deadline to notice them. That’s including if they don’t give you any notice by April 1st, okay? Because they’re going to default from July 1st to July 31st anyway, so you’re going to want to pick a weekend in July.

Closing

April is somewhat of an interesting month. We have a few things going on. Of course, we have the summer notice provisions which I’ve discussed, and again, I’m going to put the link in the video for you to go back and review what those notice provisions require in detail. That’s another video that I have done.

We also have the potential Good Friday, which is a weekend that would be extended by a holiday, so you’re going to want to look at the provisions in your order regarding weekends extended by a holiday to see if that applies to you if your child is out for Good Friday.

Other than that, I will see you in May!