October 2023 Texas Standard Possession Order

INTRO

Well, we’re back for another edition of “What In the Heck Is Going on with the Texas Standard Possession Order”, the October 2023 Edition. Spoiler alert, there’s really nothing that unusual about the October 2023 standard possession order. It’s a pretty straightforward month with a couple of, little tidbits.

THURSDAYS

We’ll start with Thursdays as usual; the non-custodial parent will have Thursday the 5th, 12th, 19th, and the 26th of the month. Nothing unusual there.

WEEKENDS

For the weekend periods of possession, we have a first and a third Friday this month. But remember if you go back to September, we had a 5th Friday of the month. If you look at the calendar you can see these weekends go back-to-back. So, the non-custodial parent will have back-to-back weekends, the first Friday of October, which is the 6th, and then they would have the 3rd Friday of October, which is the 20th for that weekend. Custodial parent, you would get the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month.

HOLIDAYS

Now we do have a holiday this month in October, Columbus Day, and I am pretty sure that most kids are out of school for Columbus Day. If that is the case, then non-custodial parent, you’ll have an extended weekend period of possession. That is the paragraph in your standard possession order that says, “Weekend Extended by a Holiday”. Look through your order and you will find that paragraph in there. That will apply here if the children or your child is out for Columbus Day, and I believe most are. I can hear those of you out there with toddlers and infants, “My child isn’t in school”. Well, then you’re going to use the school district for the school that your child would go to if they were in school. So go look at the school district calendar to see if Columbus Day is indeed a holiday, and then non-custodial parent, if it is, your weekend will extend to the Monday. We also have Halloween at the end of the month. Most decrees I’ve seen do not have a provision for Halloween in them, but if yours does, then just follow that provision. It will usually be like a six to eight, or a six to nine, or something to that effect. And it’s very unfortunate that Halloween falls on a Tuesday. That could possibly be the worst day for Halloween except maybe a Monday.