Choosing a co-parenting schedule is one of the first — and most stressful — decisions separated parents have to make. There's no single "best" custody schedule; the right one depends on your children's ages, how far apart you live, your work patterns, and how much conflict you have with the other parent.
Below are the most common co-parenting schedule examples used in Australia, with pros, cons, and the ages each tends to suit. Use them as a starting point for your parenting plan or court orders.
How care percentages work in Australia
Before picking a schedule, it helps to understand how Services Australia counts nights of care, because the percentage directly drives your child support assessment and Family Tax Benefit:
- 0–13% — nil care
- 14–34% — regular care
- 35–47% — shared care
- 48–52% — equal shared care
- 53–65% — primary care
- 66–86% — above primary care
- 87–100% — sole care
Each schedule below shows the approximate care percentage so you can see how it fits.
50/50 custody schedule examples
Week-on / week-off (7-7)
Each parent has the children for a full week, then swaps. Handover is usually on a Friday after school or Sunday evening.
- Care split: 50/50
- Best for: primary-school age and older (8+), teenagers
- Pros: simple, predictable, fewer transitions, easier to plan work and after-school activities
- Cons: long gap between seeing the other parent — hard on younger kids; one bad week can feel endless
- Watch out for: mid-week phone or video calls help children stay connected to the other parent
2-2-3 schedule
Parent A has the kids Mon–Tue, Parent B has Wed–Thu, then they alternate Fri–Sun. The pattern flips the following week.
- Care split: 50/50
- Best for: young children (under 6) who need frequent contact with both parents
- Pros: no more than 3 nights away from either parent
- Cons: lots of handovers (every 2–3 days); harder to plan; can feel chaotic for school-age kids
- Watch out for: works best when parents live close to school and to each other
2-2-5-5 schedule
Parent A: Mon–Tue. Parent B: Wed–Thu. Then alternating 5-night blocks (Fri–Tue with A, Wed–Sun with B).
- Care split: 50/50
- Best for: school-age children (6–12)
- Pros: consistent weekday routines (same parent always does Monday and Tuesday school runs); longer blocks for proper time together
- Cons: the 5-night blocks can feel long for young kids
- Watch out for: lock in who covers each school day so school can reach the right parent
3-4-4-3 schedule
A repeating 14-day pattern: 3 days with A, 4 with B, 4 with A, 3 with B.
- Care split: 50/50
- Best for: school-age kids
- Pros: never more than 4 nights apart; weekdays rotate so neither parent always gets the "boring" weekdays
- Cons: harder for kids to remember which house tonight is — needs a visible calendar
Shared care (but not 50/50)
Alternate weekends + one weeknight
Parent A has the children most of the time. Parent B has every second weekend (Fri after school to Sun evening or Mon morning) plus one weeknight (often dinner or overnight).
- Care split: roughly 75/25 to 80/20 (regular care bracket)
- Best for: when one parent works long hours, lives further away, or one household is the children's main base
- Pros: stable weekday routine; the "every other weekend" parent gets quality time
- Cons: less day-to-day involvement for the alternate-weekend parent
- Watch out for: add school holidays and one extended block per year (e.g. a week each holidays) to keep the relationship strong
Every second weekend (long weekend pattern)
Friday after school to Monday before school, every second weekend.
- Care split: roughly 80/20
- Best for: parents living further apart, or when the children are settled in one school catchment
- Pros: real weekend time without the Sunday-night rush
- Cons: very limited weekday contact — needs phone/video calls to fill the gap
9-5 schedule (every fortnight)
A 14-night cycle: 9 nights with the primary parent, 5 nights with the other.
- Care split: roughly 64/36 (primary / shared bracket border)
- Best for: parents transitioning from sole care toward more shared care
- Pros: larger block than alternate weekends; still leaves a clear primary home
- Cons: can sit awkwardly across a care-percentage bracket — check the impact on child support and FTB
School-term and holiday schedules
Most Australian families layer two schedules:
- Term-time schedule — one of the patterns above
- Holiday schedule — usually 50/50 split of school holidays, alternating Christmas and Easter year on year
A common holiday default: each parent gets half of each school holiday block, with Christmas and Easter alternating (Parent A has Christmas Eve/Day in even years, Parent B in odd years).
Special situations
Long-distance co-parenting
If parents live more than an hour or two apart, weekly handovers stop being realistic. Common patterns:
- School year with one parent, school holidays with the other
- Alternate month blocks for very young children
- Every second long weekend plus extended holiday blocks
Long-distance arrangements lean heavily on video calls and a shared calendar.
Newborns and babies (under 2)
Frequent short contacts work better than long blocks. A common starting point is 2–3 short daytime visits per week with one or two overnights, building up as the child grows.
Teenagers
Schedules become more flexible — teenagers often want a say in where they sleep. Most parenting orders for teens include a "subject to the child's wishes" clause for the older years.
What to put in your parenting plan
Whatever schedule you choose, write it down. A good parenting plan includes:
- The exact term-time pattern
- The holiday pattern, including Christmas, Easter, birthdays, Mother's/Father's Day
- Handover time and place
- Who pays for what (school fees, uniforms, extras)
- Communication rules (how often, what platform)
- How changes are agreed and recorded
Tracking the schedule once it starts
The first 6 months are when most arrangements wobble — swaps, illness, holidays, school events. You need a clear, dated record of which parent had the children each night because it directly affects your care percentage, child support and FTB.
Bloom's parenting calendar lets you import a template (2-2-3, week-on/week-off, etc.), roll it forward indefinitely, and log when reality differs from the plan. The family log timestamps every entry so you have evidence if there's ever a Centrelink review or mediation.
Managing shared custody without conflict
The schedule itself only takes you so far — how you run it determines whether shared custody feels manageable or exhausting. A few habits separate calm shared-custody arrangements from constant flashpoints: keep handovers brief and neutral, move all logistics into a written channel rather than at the door, agree the rule for swaps in advance, and log changes the day they happen. The schedule is the skeleton; these habits are the soft tissue. If conflict is high, see our companion guide on how to reduce co-parenting conflict.
Which schedule should you actually choose?
A simple rule of thumb:
- Under 5: frequent short contacts (2-2-3 if you live close; alternate weekends + weeknight if not)
- 5–12: longer blocks they can settle into (2-2-5-5, 3-4-4-3, or week-on/week-off if mature)
- 13+: week-on/week-off or a flexible arrangement that takes their wishes into account
- High conflict: longer blocks with fewer handovers — every handover is a flashpoint
When in doubt, start with a trial schedule for 3 months, log how it actually runs, and revise. A schedule that looks fair on paper but causes weekly arguments isn't working.