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Parenting Time & Schedules

How a Father Can Request More Parenting Time

Learn how to get more parenting time by agreeing on a new schedule or asking a court to modify the order, and how state law affects your case.

Best for the Children Editorial·8 min read·July 8, 2025·Updated October 16, 2026

It's Sunday evening, the bags are packed, and you're handing your kids back for another long stretch until your next weekend. If you want more time than that, you have two routes. You can work out a new schedule with the other parent and have it made official. Or you can ask a court to modify the order, which usually means showing that circumstances have changed and that more time with you serves your child. How hard either route is depends heavily on which state you live in.

Start with what the numbers actually show

You'll often see the claim that fathers "win" custody only about 18% of the time. That figure doesn't trace back to any solid source. The closest real data comes from the Census Bureau's surveys of custodial parents. Fathers were about 15% of custodial parents in 2000 and about 17% in 2013. Mothers made up nearly all the rest.

Those numbers describe who ended up as the custodial parent. They don't describe who won in court. Many custody arrangements are worked out between the parents, so the figures say little about how judges treat fathers who ask for time.

The same 2013 data shows a related gap. Only 31.4% of custodial fathers had a child support agreement, compared with 52.3% of custodial mothers.

The more useful point is this: custody statutes are written in gender-neutral terms. Arizona's law, for example, bars a court from preferring a parent's plan because of the parent's gender or the child's. Your case turns on the rules your state applies to any parent, so that is where to start.

Know which kind of state you're in

States fall roughly into a few groups. Lists of "best" and "worst" states for fathers go out of date quickly as legislatures change the rules, so check the current statute rather than a ranking.

States that presume equal time.

  • Florida. Since July 1, 2023, Florida law presumes that equal time-sharing is in a child's best interests. A parent who opposes equal time must prove otherwise by a preponderance of the evidence. The bill passed the Senate 34–3 and the House 105–7, and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it on June 27, 2023.
  • Kentucky. Since a 2018 amendment, Kentucky law presumes that joint custody and equally shared parenting time are in the child's best interest. That presumption is subject to the state's domestic-violence provisions. If a judge decides an unequal schedule is warranted, the court must still give each parent as much time as is consistent with the child's welfare.
  • Others. A 2025 legal guide lists Arkansas, Missouri and West Virginia alongside Florida and Kentucky as having a true equal-time presumption. Check your own state's statute before relying on that.

States that push for maximum time without promising 50/50.

  • Arizona. Courts must adopt a parenting plan that "maximizes" each parent's time, consistent with the child's best interests. The same statute says shared legal decision-making "does not necessarily mean equal parenting time." Decision-making authority and the calendar are two separate questions.
  • Tennessee. Tennessee law contains a "maximum participation" standard that applies to both parents.

States with no presumption at all.

  • Georgia. Georgia law says there is no presumption in favor of any form of custody or either parent. Joint custody is an option the court can choose, not the default. Bills introduced in the 2025–2026 session would create a joint-custody presumption, but as of this writing they had not become law.
  • Washington. Washington sets no presumption for either parent or for any particular schedule. Judges weigh a list of factors. The one given "the greatest weight" is the strength, nature and stability of the child's relationship with each parent.

States with a special rule before any order exists.

  • Nevada. Until a court rules on custody, both parents hold joint legal and joint physical custody, whether or not they were ever married.

States where child support uses its own definition of "shared."

  • Alaska. For child support purposes, custody counts as "shared" when the child lives with each parent at least 30% but no more than 70% of the year. A judge orders shared custody only if it is in the child's best interests. Alaska bills proposing a presumption of substantially equal time have been introduced, but they should not be treated as law unless you confirm they were enacted.

Your state's group tells you what you're up against. In Florida or Kentucky, the law starts from equal time. In Georgia or Washington, you have to build the case for more time from the evidence.

Route one: reach an agreement and make it official

If you and the other parent can talk, this is usually the faster and cheaper path. Propose a specific schedule rather than asking for "more time" in general. For example: every Wednesday overnight, or alternating weeks in summer. A mediator can help if conversations tend to stall.

The step that people skip is getting the agreement approved by the court. A handshake deal can fall apart, and the existing court order is what a judge will enforce if it does.

Some states also allow smaller changes without a full legal fight. In Washington, a parent can seek a "minor" adjustment to the residential schedule without meeting the full modification test. To qualify, the change must meet one of three limits:

  • it adds no more than 24 full days a year, or
  • it is tied to a parent's relocation or an involuntary change in work schedule, or
  • it leaves the other parent with no more than 90 overnights a year in total.

The change must also be in the child's best interest.

Route two: file to modify the order

If the other parent says no, you can ask the court to change the parenting plan. Most states require two things:

  1. A real change in circumstances. In Washington, that means a substantial change in the circumstances of the child or the other parent.
  2. A showing that the change serves the child. The modification must be in the child's best interest.

Florida made this easier in 2023. Parents no longer have to show that the change in circumstances was "unanticipated." Judges must now put their reasons in written findings of fact. Florida law also says that a parent moving to within 50 miles of the child's primary home may count as a substantial and material change.

So if you've moved closer, your work schedule now fits school hours, or your child's needs have shifted, that may be the change your case rests on.

A common piece of advice is to prove the other parent isn't caring enough. That isn't what the statutes ask for. The legal questions are what has changed and what is best for your child. Criticizing the other parent rarely answers either one.

Build the record a judge will look at

Washington's factor list is a good guide to what courts weigh, even in other states. Judges look at:

  • the strength and stability of your relationship with your child
  • your past and likely future performance of parenting functions
  • the child's needs
  • any agreements between the parents
  • each parent's work schedule

The following steps are practical advice rather than legal requirements, but each one creates evidence on those factors:

  • Use every hour you already have. Show up on time and don't cancel. A spotty record under the current schedule undercuts any request for more.
  • Do the everyday parenting tasks. Attend school conferences. Know the pediatrician. Handle homework and extracurricular activities like practices and lessons. These are the "parenting functions" judges ask about.
  • Keep records. Note dates, school emails and medical appointments you handled. Keep a log of the visits you completed.
  • Keep communication civil and in writing. Calm, child-focused messages show you can co-parent. They also make good exhibits if your case reaches a hearing.
  • Keep disputes away from the kids. Don't argue in front of them or ask them to carry messages.

Keep time and money separate

Parenting time and child support are separate legal issues. Getting more time doesn't automatically change what you pay. Washington's statute says outright that a schedule change alone is not a basis for changing support.

Child support is also a court-ordered obligation, not part of a co-parenting deal you negotiate. Keep paying what is ordered while you seek more time, and raise support as its own issue if your circumstances justify it.

Get advice for your state

The same request can be routine in Florida and an uphill climb in Georgia. Local procedures also vary by county. A family-law attorney, or your court's self-help center, can tell you which standard applies and which forms to file.

With that information, you can choose between proposing a new schedule to the other parent and filing to modify the order.

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