QUESTION: My ex keeps bringing up snow days and teacher development days and claims he gets them all. How does Utah law govern this?
ANSWER: First, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That goes for your ex towards you too. Be good even when your ex is bad. If your ex is chronically bad, warn your ex that if the chronic badness continues you will take the matter up with the court.
Here’s how parent-time and snow days and the like work:
(b)(iv) Weekends include any “snow” days, teacher development days, or other days when school is not scheduled and which are contiguous to the weekend period.
(c) Holidays include any “snow” days, teacher development days after the children begin the school year, or other days when school is not scheduled, contiguous to the holiday period, and take precedence over the weekend parent-time.
(e)(i) If a holiday falls on a weekend or on a Friday or Monday and the total holiday period extends beyond that time so that the child is free from school and the parent is free from work, the noncustodial parent shall be entitled to this lengthier holiday period.
To unpack this, the way I construe* this Utah Code section is:
If your ex has a regular weekend parent-time period coming up that would normally start on Friday and end Sunday night, but school is out on the Thursday before or on the Monday (and Tuesday, etc.) due to a snow day or teacher development day, then your ex gets those extra days.
If an upcoming holiday is your ex’s and would normally start on, for example, a Wednesday, but school is out on the Tuesday before due to a snow day or teacher development day, your ex gets to start his/her holiday time on Tuesday.
If an upcoming holiday is your ex’s and would normally end on Monday, but school is out on Tuesday too because of a snow day or teacher development day, your ex gets to end his/her holiday time on Tuesday.
If the kids are scheduled to be with you on a regular Tuesday, but it arises that school will not be in session on Tuesday because of a snow day or teacher development day, the time is yours, not your ex’s.
*Some construe the code more narrowly to mean that parent-time includes snow days and teacher development days that are only contiguous to the end of a parent-time period.
The point is that if a snow day or teacher development day is contiguous with time you would normally have with the kids, that time is yours. But if a snow day or teacher development day is contiguous with your ex’s weekend or holiday parent-time with the kids, that time is your ex’s.
If you and your ex can reach agreement on how you will both treat snow days and teacher development days, then snow days and teacher development days will apply the same way to you both.
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