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Parenting Time & Schedules

Parenting Time When One Parent Stays Home With the Kids

Learn how courts weigh stay-at-home caregiving in parenting time, which states start from equal-time presumptions, and how imputed income can affect support.

Best for the Children Editorial·8 min read·March 5, 2026·Updated October 24, 2026

You've packed the lunches, sat in the pediatrician's waiting room, and known which shoes fit for years. Now a separation is on the table, and you wonder whether being the parent who stayed home means you'll keep most of the time with the kids. Usually not automatically. Courts decide parenting time by the child's best interests. Your caregiving history is one important factor among several, and a growing number of states start from a presumption of shared or equal time. Here is how that works, what the numbers say about at-home caregiving, and what staying home can mean for money.

"Parenting Time" Is a Legal Term

In everyday speech, "parenting time" means the hours you spend with your kids. In family law it means something narrower. It is the court-ordered schedule and terms that set when a child is with each parent after a separation or divorce. Massachusetts and Minnesota courts both define it this way.

Parenting time is separate from legal custody. Legal custody is the authority to make major decisions about a child's health, education, and welfare. A stay-at-home parent might end up with most of the weekday schedule while sharing decision-making equally, or the reverse. When you ask what staying home "gets" you, it helps to ask about each one separately.

How Courts Weigh Your Caregiving History

Most U.S. custody law grew from the "best interests of the child" standard. Section 402 of the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act lists the classic factors:

  • the parents' wishes
  • the child's wishes
  • the child's relationships with parents, siblings, and others
  • the child's adjustment to home, school, and community
  • the mental and physical health of everyone involved

Courts once leaned on a "primary caretaker doctrine," which favored the parent who handled daily care. In most jurisdictions that idea has become one factor inside a broader best-interests analysis rather than a deciding rule. Tennessee's custody statute is an example of the modern approach.

Your years at home still matter. They show up as evidence of the child's established routines, their bond with you, and their stability. But they compete with other considerations, and one of those can work against a parent who seems to want to shut the other parent out. California Family Code § 3040 tells courts to consider which parent is more likely to allow frequent and continuing contact with the other parent. The same section says there is no preference or presumption for either sole or joint custody.

Some States Start From Shared Time

The default your court begins with depends heavily on where you live. Several states have written strong shared-parenting rules into law:

  • Florida: Since July 1, 2023, Statute § 61.13 creates a rebuttable presumption that equal (50/50) time-sharing is in the child's best interests. A parent who wants a different split must rebut it by a preponderance of the evidence.
  • Kentucky: KRS 403.270 presumes that joint custody and equally shared parenting time serve the child's best interests. Evidence of domestic violence or harm can overcome the presumption.
  • Minnesota: Statute § 518.175 presumes each parent is entitled to at least 25 percent of parenting time.
  • Arizona: A.R.S. § 25-403.02 requires a parenting plan that maximizes each parent's parenting time, consistent with the child's best interests. It bars any preference based on the parent's or child's gender.
  • Michigan: MCL § 722.27a says parenting time is granted to foster a strong relationship between the child and both parents. A child keeps the right to parenting time unless there is clear and convincing evidence that it would endanger them.

In a presumption state, the stay-at-home parent usually isn't arguing from a blank slate. They are arguing that the facts justify departing from an equal or shared default. In California, by contrast, the law sets no starting preference either way.

What the Numbers Say About At-Home Caregiving

The data supports the sense that the parent at home carries more of the daily load, which is why caregiving history still counts as evidence.

A Pew Research Center analysis of time-use data found that stay-at-home mothers spend an average of 18 hours a week on childcare, compared with 11 hours for working mothers. They also spend 23 hours a week on housework, compared with 14. Stay-at-home fathers average 11 hours of childcare and 18 hours of housework a week, and they report 43 hours of leisure.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey shows how much caregiving happens in the background. Adults living with children spend about 1.39 hours a day on childcare as their main activity: 1.74 hours for women and 0.99 for men. Adults caring for children under 13 also spend an average of 5.08 hours a day on "secondary" childcare, which means watching over kids while doing something else. Much of the at-home parent's work is this kind of watching and being available.

You are also far from alone. Pew's analysis of Census Bureau data counted 11 million U.S. parents, or 18 percent of parents, who were not working outside the home in 2016. That share was barely changed from 17 percent in 1989. Fathers made up 18 percent of stay-at-home parents in both 2016 and 2021, up from 11 percent in 1989.

These averages describe the country, not your family. In a custody case, what persuades is the specific record of who did what for your children.

Money: Not Earning Doesn't Mean "Zero Income"

The financial side catches many stay-at-home parents off guard. When child support is calculated, a parent who isn't working may have income imputed to them. That means the court treats them as able to earn a certain amount.

Federal child support rules limit how states can do this. Under 45 CFR § 302.56, any imputed income must be based on that parent's actual circumstances, including employment history, education, the local job market, and assets. States cannot simply plug in a standard estimate. A parent who left a career a decade ago and faces a thin local job market is in a different position from one who recently stepped away from a high-paying field. The rule requires courts to account for that difference.

Putting It Together

The following steps are general suggestions, not legal advice. State rules differ sharply, so a family lawyer in your state is the right person to apply them to your situation.

  1. Find out which framework your state uses: an equal-time presumption, a minimum-time floor, or no presumption.
  2. Treat legal custody and parenting time as two separate questions, and decide what matters most to you in each.
  3. Keep a concrete record of your caregiving, such as school contacts, help with homework, medical appointments, and daily routines. This is the evidence a best-interests analysis looks for.
  4. Show the court you support your children's relationship with the other parent. Several states weigh this directly.
  5. Prepare for an income-imputation argument by gathering your work history, education, and realistic local job prospects.

Staying home doesn't guarantee you more time after a separation. It does give you a record of care, and in most courts that record is evidence worth presenting well.

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