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The shared custody calendar

The shared custody calendar

Shared residence is decided in a parenting agreement or a family court ruling, in a few lines. Those few lines then have to be turned, week after week, into a very concrete answer: who has the child on a given day?

This page explains the most common patterns and how to lay them out on a calendar. It is useful even if you use no tool at all — that is the point.

The alternating patterns

These are the equal-share alternations commonly used under French law. Each preview runs four weeks from a Monday, with the handover at the end of the day.

Alternating week (7/7) — One week with one, one week with the other. The most common schedule. Four weeks of alternation from Monday 5 January 2026.
Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
5 — With the first parent	6 — With the first parent	7 — With the first parent	8 — With the first parent	9 — With the first parent	10 — With the first parent	11 — With the first parent
12 — With the first parent	13 — With the second parent	14 — With the second parent	15 — With the second parent	16 — With the second parent	17 — With the second parent	18 — With the second parent
19 — With the second parent	20 — With the first parent	21 — With the first parent	22 — With the first parent	23 — With the first parent	24 — With the first parent	25 — With the first parent
26 — With the first parent	27 — With the second parent	28 — With the second parent	29 — With the second parent	30 — With the second parent	31 — With the second parent	1 — With the second parent

2-2-5-5 — Two fixed days with each every week, then five days including the weekend. Four weeks of alternation from Monday 5 January 2026.
Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
5 — With the first parent	6 — With the first parent	7 — With the first parent	8 — With the second parent	9 — With the second parent	10 — With the first parent	11 — With the first parent
12 — With the first parent	13 — With the first parent	14 — With the first parent	15 — With the second parent	16 — With the second parent	17 — With the second parent	18 — With the second parent
19 — With the second parent	20 — With the first parent	21 — With the first parent	22 — With the second parent	23 — With the second parent	24 — With the first parent	25 — With the first parent
26 — With the first parent	27 — With the first parent	28 — With the first parent	29 — With the second parent	30 — With the second parent	31 — With the second parent	1 — With the second parent

2-2-3 — Two nights, two nights, three nights: designed for younger children. Four weeks of alternation from Monday 5 January 2026.
Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
5 — With the first parent	6 — With the first parent	7 — With the first parent	8 — With the second parent	9 — With the second parent	10 — With the first parent	11 — With the first parent
12 — With the first parent	13 — With the second parent	14 — With the second parent	15 — With the first parent	16 — With the first parent	17 — With the second parent	18 — With the second parent
19 — With the second parent	20 — With the first parent	21 — With the first parent	22 — With the second parent	23 — With the second parent	24 — With the first parent	25 — With the first parent
26 — With the first parent	27 — With the second parent	28 — With the second parent	29 — With the first parent	30 — With the first parent	31 — With the second parent	1 — With the second parent

3-4-4-3 — Mid-week handover, on a two-week cycle. Four weeks of alternation from Monday 5 January 2026.
Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
5 — With the first parent	6 — With the first parent	7 — With the first parent	8 — With the first parent	9 — With the second parent	10 — With the second parent	11 — With the second parent
12 — With the second parent	13 — With the first parent	14 — With the first parent	15 — With the first parent	16 — With the first parent	17 — With the second parent	18 — With the second parent
19 — With the second parent	20 — With the first parent	21 — With the first parent	22 — With the first parent	23 — With the second parent	24 — With the second parent	25 — With the second parent
26 — With the second parent	27 — With the first parent	28 — With the first parent	29 — With the first parent	30 — With the first parent	31 — With the second parent	1 — With the second parent

Alternating fortnight (14/14) — Two weeks with each: teenagers, or geographic distance. Four weeks of alternation from Monday 5 January 2026.
Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
5 — With the first parent	6 — With the first parent	7 — With the first parent	8 — With the first parent	9 — With the first parent	10 — With the first parent	11 — With the first parent
12 — With the first parent	13 — With the first parent	14 — With the first parent	15 — With the first parent	16 — With the first parent	17 — With the first parent	18 — With the first parent
19 — With the first parent	20 — With the second parent	21 — With the second parent	22 — With the second parent	23 — With the second parent	24 — With the second parent	25 — With the second parent
26 — With the second parent	27 — With the second parent	28 — With the second parent	29 — With the second parent	30 — With the second parent	31 — With the second parent	1 — With the second parent

With the first parent
With the second parent

Counting odd and even weeks

“Every other week” says nothing until you fix which one. French practice relies on the ISO week number: week 1 is the one containing the first Thursday of January, and weeks run Monday to Sunday.

An agreement that says “even weeks” therefore means even-numbered ISO weeks. That is unambiguous — but only if both parents count the same way, and not every phone calendar shows the week number.

Three traps

The turn of the year. Some years have 53 weeks: two odd weeks then follow each other around 1 January, and the odd-week parent keeps the child two weeks running. The agreement has to say what happens that week.
The start of the school year. The custody calendar often resumes on the first day of school, which falls neither on the same date nor in the same week number each year. “From 1 September” and “from the start of the school year” do not produce the same calendar.
The handover. An alternation is described in nights, not in days: “Friday to Friday” leaves the Friday itself open. Fixing the time — usually the end of the school day — removes the argument.

And the school holidays

Holidays almost always interrupt the ordinary alternation: they are split in half, often alternating between odd and even years. That still requires knowing the dates, which depend on the zone — A, B or C — of the child’s school, not on where the parents live.

Repère keeps this calendar for both of you

The pattern is chosen once, the school holidays for the school’s zone are added on their own, and every departure from the pattern stays dated. Both parents see the same calendar, and no one can rewrite what took place.

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