Four nights a month. That’s what the court tells a father he gets — not because he did anything, but because it’s the standard order. Here’s the whole conversation, and the law behind it.
Part 12 of 62.
In Texas, the standard custody order gives one parent about 20% of the year with their child — and that parent is the father about four times in five. A good dad, by default, becomes a weekend visitor.
One honest caveat: Texas also allows an expanded order with more time, and since 2021, when parents live within 50 miles of each other, that expanded schedule is presumed. Even then, the standard order is the floor the law starts from — and the parent who gets it is the father about four in five.
Sources: Texas Family Code §153.312 (Standard Possession Order) and §153.3171 (expanded order; 50-mile provision, effective 2021); U.S. Census Bureau, Custodial Parents and Their Child Support: 2022 (about 4 in 5 custodial parents are mothers).
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