Alaska Holiday Parenting Schedules & Long-Distance Custody

Alaska has no statute that assigns Thanksgiving or Christmas to either parent. Holidays are divided by your parenting plan, either one the parents agree to or one a judge orders under the best-interests factors in AS 25.24.150(c). Two Alaska rules matter most when the parents live far apart. First, after setting child support, the court shall allocate the reasonable travel expenses needed to exercise visitation between the parents under Alaska Civil Rule 90.3(g). Second, if a parent willfully and without just excuse refuses visitation that a specific court order requires, AS 25.20.140 gives the other parent a separate claim for $200 per failure, plus a reasonable attorney fee to the winner.

The rest of this guide covers how families usually divide the holidays, what a long-distance plan should say about flights to and from the Lower 48, and what to do when the other parent will not follow the schedule. This article is general information, not legal advice. For the basics of building a plan, see our Alaska parenting plan guide and our family law practice.

Table of Contents

• ➤ How a Judge Decides a Holiday Schedule
• ➤ Common Ways to Split Thanksgiving and Christmas
• ➤ Long-Distance Parenting Between Alaska and the Lower 48
• ➤ Who Pays for the Airfare?
• ➤ What Your Parenting Plan Should Spell Out
• ➤ When the Other Parent Will Not Follow the Holiday Schedule
• ➤ Safety Exceptions
• ➤ Frequently Asked Questions
• ➤ Talk to a BFQ Law Alaska Attorney

How a Judge Decides a Holiday Schedule

When parents cannot agree, the court decides custody and visitation by the child’s best interests. Under AS 25.24.150(c), the judge must consider the child’s physical, emotional, mental, religious and social needs; each parent’s ability and desire to meet them; the child’s preference if the child is old enough to form one; the love and affection between the child and each parent; how long the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment; each parent’s willingness to encourage a close relationship with the other parent; any domestic violence, abuse, neglect or harmful substance abuse; and other pertinent factors. AS 25.20.060 applies the same factors to unmarried parents and gives neither parent a preference.

Holiday decisions run through those same factors. A judge looking at Christmas may weigh religious observance, extended-family traditions, the child’s age, how much travel is involved and whether a parent has a record of cooperating with the other parent’s time.

The Alaska Court System’s parenting plan page says a plan’s schedule should set the specific days and times the children are with each parent, who transports them, where exchanges happen and who pays for travel. It also suggests using the local school district calendar so vacation dates are built in. The court’s form for proposing a schedule is DR-475, and the Best Interests Affidavit is DR-965.

Common Ways to Split Thanksgiving and Christmas

There is no default formula, but most Alaska plans use one of these structures:

Approach	How it works	Best fit
Alternating years	Parent A has Thanksgiving in even years and Christmas in odd years; Parent B has the reverse	Parents far apart, where splitting a single holiday means two flights
Split the holiday	Christmas Eve through 2 p.m. on Christmas Day with one parent, the rest of the break with the other	Parents in the same community
Split the school break	First half of winter break with one parent, second half with the other, swapping halves each year	Long-distance plans where each half justifies a flight
Fixed holidays	Each parent keeps the same holiday every year, often because of family or religious traditions	Parents with different, stable traditions
Long-distance block	The non-residential parent takes most of winter break and most of summer; the residential parent keeps the school year	One parent in the Lower 48

For 2026, Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26 and Christmas falls on a Friday. Plans that simply say “Thanksgiving” invite arguments about whether that means Thursday alone or the whole four-day weekend. Good plans define holidays by start and end times, for example “from the end of school Wednesday until 6 p.m. Sunday.”

Holiday time overrides the regular schedule. Most plans say the holiday schedule controls over the ordinary week-on, week-off or weekend rotation. If yours does not say so, two parents can read the same order and each believe they have the child.

Long-Distance Parenting Between Alaska and the Lower 48

Alaska families split by distance face problems most custody templates ignore: limited flight schedules out of rural hubs, winter weather delays and the cost of round trips. A long-distance plan should spell out:

• Which airport and which flights. Name the departure and arrival airports and who books the tickets. If one parent books, require them to send the itinerary to the other parent by a set deadline.
• Escorts and unaccompanied-minor service. Say at what age the child may fly alone, whether airline unaccompanied-minor service is required, and who flies with a younger child. Airline age rules and fees vary, so check the carrier’s current policy before relying on it.
• Weather and missed connections. State what happens if a flight is cancelled. A common clause adds the lost days to the end of the visit or lets the parent make them up at the next break.
• Exchange points. If one parent drives from the Mat-Su or the Kenai, say whether the exchange happens at the airport, a midpoint or the child’s home.
• Communication. Set regular phone or video calls when the child is away, with reasonable time windows that account for time zones.
• Documents. Say who holds the child’s ID and travel documents and when they are handed over.

Plans for military families have extra rules. Under AS 25.20.110(d)–(e), a parent’s deployment and the temporary disruption it causes may not by itself be a change of circumstances for modifying custody, and a court may enter a temporary order during deployment that can delegate the deployed parent’s visitation to a close family member. See our military divorce guide.

Who Pays for the Airfare?

Under Civil Rule 90.3(g), “After determining an award of child support under this rule, the court shall allocate reasonable travel expenses which are necessary to exercise visitation between the parties as may be just and proper for them to contribute.” In practice this means:

• The court must address it. Travel costs are allocated as a separate item after child support is calculated. They are not automatically folded into the support figure.
• ”Just and proper” is flexible. Parents can agree to split tickets 50/50, split them in proportion to income, have the parent who moved pay more, or have each parent pay for the trip that starts at their end. A judge applying the rule looks at the parties’ circumstances.
• Put the method in writing. A plan should state the percentage each parent pays, who buys the tickets, how quickly the other parent reimburses, and whether escort fares and unaccompanied-minor fees count.

How travel costs interact with child support is covered in our Rule 90.3 child support guide. If a parent later moves and travel costs rise, that can support a motion to revisit the allocation.

What Your Parenting Plan Should Spell Out

A holiday schedule that works on paper but fails in December is usually missing details. A checklist for Alaska families:

1. Every holiday by name, including Thanksgiving, winter break, New Year’s, spring break, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, the child’s birthday and any religious or cultural holidays the family observes.
2. Exact start and end times and whether the holiday rotates by odd and even years.
3. Priority language saying holidays override the regular schedule and summer time overrides the school-year schedule.
4. Travel logistics: airports, booking deadlines, escort rules, weather clauses and itinerary sharing.
5. Cost-sharing for airfare and related travel costs.
6. Notice deadlines, such as written notice by October 1 of the parent’s winter-break travel plans.
7. Make-up time rules for missed visits caused by illness, weather or cancellations.
8. Out-of-state travel notice, including the address where the child will stay and a phone number.
9. Communication while the child is with the other parent.

When the Other Parent Will Not Follow the Holiday Schedule

Start with a written record. The court’s enforcement page recommends keeping a journal or calendar of every missed or changed visit and every pickup problem. Then consider these tools:

Remedy	What it does	Source
Motion to enforce	Asks the judge to order compliance with a specific schedule (form DR-975)	Court self-help: Enforce Your Order
Damages for denied visitation	$200 per willful failure to permit court-ordered visitation, plus a reasonable attorney fee to the prevailing party	AS 25.20.140
Contempt	A motion for an order to show cause why the other parent should not be held in contempt	Court self-help: Enforce Your Order
Writ of assistance	A court order directing police to help return children under an existing order	Court self-help: Enforce Your Order
Modification	A change in custody if a change in circumstances requires it and the change is in the child’s best interests	AS 25.20.110(a)

Limits of the $200 remedy. AS 25.20.140 applies only when the order is specific about when visitation must be allowed. “Just excuse” includes a child’s illness that makes the visit dangerous to the child’s health, but not the child’s wish to skip the visit. A single continuous visitation period counts as one failure, so a parent who withholds an entire winter break owes $200 for that break, not $200 per day.

Police usually do not enforce custody orders. According to the court’s enforcement page, police generally do not get involved in enforcing most divorce or custody orders unless a domestic violence protective order is in effect or the court issues a writ of assistance. Calling the police on December 24 is rarely a substitute for a written order.

Keeping a child outside Alaska can be a crime. A relative who knows they have no legal right to do so and takes or keeps a child from a lawful custodian with intent to hold the child for a protracted period commits custodial interference in the second degree, a class A misdemeanor (AS 11.41.330). If the child is removed from or kept outside the state, it is custodial interference in the first degree, a class C felony (AS 11.41.320). Not returning a child from a Lower 48 holiday visit is a serious matter that warrants prompt legal advice.

Do not withhold the child in return. A parent who answers a denied Thanksgiving by keeping the child at Christmas can face the same remedies. Under AS 25.24.150(c)(6), each parent’s willingness to encourage the child’s relationship with the other parent is a best-interests factor, so a history of tit-for-tat can affect custody later.

Safety Exceptions

If there is a history of domestic violence, the usual holiday rules may not apply. Under AS 25.24.150(j), a parent found to have a history of perpetrating domestic violence generally receives only supervised visitation unless specific conditions are proven. The court’s parenting plan page lists safety options such as exchanges at public places, supervised exchanges and no alcohol before or during visits. If you have safety concerns about a holiday exchange, raise them with the court before the holiday rather than after.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a standard holiday schedule in Alaska? No. Alaska law has no statutory holiday schedule. Parents can agree to one, and if they cannot, the judge sets one based on the child’s best interests under AS 25.24.150(c).

Who pays for my child’s flights between Alaska and the Lower 48? The court must allocate reasonable visitation travel expenses between the parents under Civil Rule 90.3(g), “as may be just and proper.” Parents can agree on a split, and the order should state it.

Can I take my child out of Alaska for the holidays? That depends on your order. Many orders require notice or consent for out-of-state travel. If you have an order, follow its terms; if you do not, get advice before traveling, because keeping a child outside Alaska in violation of another person’s custody rights can be custodial interference under AS 11.41.320.

What can I do if the other parent keeps the kids over Christmas when it is my year? Document it, then consider a motion to enforce, a claim for $200 per willful failure under AS 25.20.140, a contempt motion or a modification. Police generally do not enforce custody orders without a protective order or writ of assistance.

Does my child get to choose where to spend Christmas? A child’s preference is a best-interests factor if the child is of sufficient age and capacity to form one, but it does not decide the case. Under AS 25.20.140, a child’s wish not to go is not a “just excuse” for withholding ordered visitation.

Talk to a BFQ Law Alaska Attorney

Holiday disputes are easiest to prevent in October and hardest to fix on December 23. If your plan does not say who has the child for each holiday, how the child travels and who pays for the tickets, a modification or a written agreement filed with the court can close those gaps before the next break. If a schedule is already being ignored, the remedies above have specific requirements, and the order’s exact wording matters.

Read more in our custody lawyer guide and about our family law practice. Reach us through our contact page. Nothing here promises an outcome, and every case depends on its own facts.

This post is general information, not legal advice.

Sources: AS 25.24.150 · AS 25.20.060 · AS 25.20.110 · AS 25.20.140 · AS 11.41.320 · AS 11.41.330 · Alaska Civil Rule 90.3(g) · Alaska Court System, How to Make a Parenting Plan · Alaska Court System, Enforce Your Order