60/40 Custody Schedule
A one-week loop: four nights in one home, a three-night extended weekend in the other, with the same two handoffs every week of the year.
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The repeating cycle, day by day
| Days 1 to 7 | Day 1A | Day 2A | Day 3A | Day 4A | Day 5B | Day 6B | Day 7B |
|---|
This pattern is commonly described as a 60/40 split. That figure comes from counting the overnights in the cycle above. It is the pattern's own arithmetic, not a legal standard, and no state requires this or any other rotation.
The 4-3 shape behind the 60/40 label
Of all the patterns in this library, this one has the shortest description: parent A has Monday through Thursday nights, parent B has Friday through Sunday, repeat. The anchor can move, but the four-three shape is the whole design.
The 60/40 name is a convenience, not a measurement. Four of seven nights is 57.1 percent and three of seven is 42.9. Call it 57/43 whenever precision matters, for instance when a support formula counts overnights.
Because the loop is only seven days long, nothing ever alternates. Each parent’s nights are identical every week of the year, which makes this one of the easiest calendars for a child to internalize and for two adults to build work lives around.
The three-night block spans the weekend in the standard anchoring, so the template quietly assigns all weekend time to parent B. That is the selling point for some families and the sticking point for others.
Making a 4-3 week work
The pattern shines when one parent’s job eats weekdays. A shift worker, a teacher grading at night, or a parent with a punishing commute can hold the weekend block and be fully present for all of it.
Both handoffs border school days, Thursday into Friday and Sunday into Monday, so most families route them through the classroom. One parent drops off in the morning, the other collects in the afternoon, and the adults never need to overlap.
If the weekend imbalance grates over time, the usual repairs keep the shape: trade one Saturday a month, or flip the anchor at the school-year boundary so the extended weekend changes owners twice a year.
When this pattern tends to fit
- Parents wanting near-equal time with zero week-to-week variation
- A work schedule that frees exactly one end of the week
- Children who do better with one unchanging map
Honest downsides
- All weekends sit on one side in the plain template
- The 60/40 name overstates the majority share by about three points
- Four nights straight may stretch a preschooler
Overnights over a year
Exact arithmetic: 4 of 7 is 57.1 percent, 3 of 7 is 42.9. Across 365 nights that comes to roughly 209 and 156.
Two handoffs a week, both adjacent to school days. Nothing in this calendar ever alternates.
See it on real dates
Open the custody schedule generator and choose the 60/40 (4-3) schedule to lay the cycle over an actual calendar, starting from any anchor date. To turn the rotation into a yearly overnight count for a support formula, use the parenting time calculator.
60/40 (4-3) schedule FAQs
Is a 60/40 schedule really 60/40?
Not quite. The weekly version is 4 nights to 3, which is 57.1 to 42.9 percent. Hitting a true 60/40 takes a longer cycle, such as 6 nights of every 10, which most families reject because a 10-day loop wanders across the week. The 4-3 week is the practical compromise the label points at.
How many overnights is 60/40 across a year?
On the 4-3 week, about 209 nights for parent A and 156 for parent B. The totals follow from 52 weeks plus a day, not from the label on the plan.
Which parent has the extended weekend?
Whichever one the written plan assigns Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Swapping the assignment turns the same template around without changing any of its math.
Can a 60/40 schedule alternate weekends?
Not inside a seven-day cycle, since a one-week loop repeats identically by definition. Families who want a ratio near 60/40 together with rotating weekends usually move to a fortnight design such as alternating weekends plus a midweek overnight, which lands near 64/36.
About the numbers on this page
Custody schedule patterns are scheduling conventions used by families, mediators, and courts. They are not law. No statute mandates any rotation on this page, and no agency publishes an official version of them, so this page cites no statutes. Every count and percentage above comes from the pattern's own cycle, which you can verify against the day-by-day table. For how a state's support formula treats parenting time, see that state's page on this site.
Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log
Changelog: page first published as part of the custody schedule library. Material changes are dated in the update log.