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50/50 custody schedules: week on week off, 2-2-3, 3-4-4-3, 2-2-5-5

Every 50/50 schedule splits the same number of nights. What separates them is how long each stay lasts and how many handovers you sign up for. Here are the four that actually get used, what each one costs in practice, and the question that should decide.

Publié le 9 août 2026

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A 50/50 schedule is not one schedule. It is a family of arrangements that all land on the same total and feel completely different to live in. Parents usually pick the one they have heard of, which is almost always week on week off, and only discover the alternatives when that one stops working.

The four that get used

Schedule	Cycle	Longest stay	Handovers per month
Week on, week off	14 nights	7 nights	about 4
2-2-5-5	14 nights	5 nights	about 9
3-4-4-3	14 nights	4 nights	about 9
2-2-3	14 nights	3 nights	about 13

Week on, week off

Seven nights with each parent, usually switching after school on Friday. It is the low-friction option: the fewest handovers, an unbroken school week, and a pattern everyone can hold in their head without checking. It is also the longest a young child will go without seeing the other parent, and that is the whole argument against it.

A common variant softens it: a midweek dinner or a single overnight in the middle of the off week. It keeps the simplicity and removes most of the sting.

2-2-5-5

Two nights with one parent, two with the other, then five and five. The practical effect is that each parent always has the same two weekdays, every week of the year, while weekends alternate. That predictability is worth a lot: activities, childcare and work schedules can be arranged once instead of every fortnight.

3-4-4-3

A close cousin, with a slightly more even split across the week. Same number of handovers, no stay longer than four nights, and the weekday pattern shifts between the two halves of the cycle rather than staying fixed. Families usually choose between 2-2-5-5 and 3-4-4-3 on the strength of a single weekday: whichever version keeps a recurring commitment with the right parent wins.

2-2-3

Two nights, two nights, three nights, then swap. No stay is longer than three nights, so a young child is never away from either parent for long. The price is thirteen handovers a month: thirteen bags, thirteen chances to forget the reading book, and two homes that need to be close enough to keep the same school run manageable.

The question that actually decides

Not the number of nights, which is identical, and not the neatness of the pattern. It is what a handover costs in your real life: the distance, the school pickup time, both work schedules, the child's age, and how well they cope with moving. A 2-2-3 between two streets is gentler than week on week off across a county. The same 2-2-3 across a county is unlivable.

What about the child's age?

This is the most asked and least settled question, and anyone who answers it with certainty is overstating the evidence. What is widely practised, rather than proven:

Under three, short and frequent contact, sometimes without overnights at first, building up gradually. This is the point where professional opinion genuinely divides.
Three to six, 2-2-3 or 2-2-5-5, avoiding long absences.
Six or seven and up, whole weeks become common and fit the school rhythm.
Teenagers change the question entirely: friends, activities and their own preference start to lead, and many families loosen the arrangement in practice without changing it on paper.

Changing schedule is not a failure

A schedule chosen when a child was three has no reason to survive until they are fifteen. The families that do best are rarely the ones that got it right first time; they are the ones that adjusted twice without treating it as a renegotiation of everything.

If the change is permanent, write it down and date it, even if you never go near a court. Two parents remembering a verbal agreement differently is the most common way a working arrangement quietly stops working.

How Nestido handles it

You declare the pattern once, as a list of stay lengths: 7 for week on week off, 2-2-3, 2-2-5-5, or anything else. The calendar fills the coming months in by itself and you only record what differs from the plan. Changing schedule means changing that list: the forecast is recalculated, and what already happened stays exactly as it was.

Cet article décrit des pratiques courantes. Il ne remplace ni un avocat, ni un juge, ni votre décision de justice, qui prime toujours sur ce que vous lirez ici.