The best custody app for a Texas Standard Possession Order (2026)

Full disclosure: we make Custody Proof, one of the options below. So yes, we are biased. This guide says plainly when a different kind of tool is the better choice. It compares kinds of tools; for head-to-heads with specific apps, see our comparisons.

Short version: a Texas Standard Possession Order is not an every-other-weekend schedule, and most calendars quietly treat it like one. That mistake is small in the first month and large by the end of the year. If you track an SPO by hand, or in a tool that only knows “repeat every two weeks”, your planned schedule will drift away from the order.

This guide is for parents whose order is a standard or expanded standard possession order, or something built on one. Two caveats first. We are not your lawyers, and nothing here is legal advice. And many Texas orders are modified, so the details below describe what a standard possession order commonly says, not what yours says. Read your own order. Where it differs, it wins.

TL;DR

The deciding question is whether a tool can model a monthly ordinal pattern (“the 1st, 3rd and 5th Friday of the month”) plus holidays that alternate by even and odd year, plus a summer period that depends on written notice. If it cannot, you end up keeping the real schedule in your head and the calendar is decoration.

Best for following an SPO from the order itself, privately: Custody Proof (ours).
Best for coordinating exchanges with the other parent: a shared family calendar or co-parenting app, if both of you use it.
Best free option that gets the weekends right: a printed year calendar you mark by hand from the order.
Best for checking your own understanding: a short call with your attorney about the parts you are unsure of.

Option	Best for	Price	Who can see it
Custody Proof (ours)	turning an SPO into an accurate private calendar, then tracking what actually happened against it	$14.75/month or $144/year (Case Builder with the AI assistant: $29/month or $278/year). 30-day money-back guarantee on your first charge	Only you. The other parent is never invited and never notified.
A shared family calendar or co-parenting app	coordinating pickups and swaps with the other parent day to day	Free, or varies by product, often per parent and by feature tier	Both parents
A printed year calendar, marked by hand	a free, accurate plan if you sit down with the order once a year	Free to a few dollars	Whoever has it
A spreadsheet	parents comfortable writing formulas who want to see the logic	Free	Only you, if you keep the file private
Your attorney	the parts of the order you are not sure how to read	Varies	You and your attorney

Why a normal calendar breaks on an SPO

A standard possession order commonly gives the non-primary parent the 1st, 3rd and 5th weekends of the month. That is a monthly ordinal pattern. It counts Fridays within each calendar month, so it resets every month. “Every other weekend” counts two weeks forward forever and never resets. The two agree for a while and then split.

The reason is the 5th weekend. Some months have five Fridays and most have four. In a five-Friday month, the 5th weekend often means the same parent has two weekends in a row: the 5th of one month and, a week later, the 1st of the next. An every-other-week calendar cannot produce that. It shows the wrong parent, and anyone comparing the calendar to the order will see it is wrong.

Then there is everything layered on top. A standard possession order commonly adds Thursday evenings during the school year, a holiday schedule that alternates by even and odd year (one parent has a given holiday in even years, the other in odd years), and an extended summer period. The summer period often depends on written notice by a deadline, frequently April 1, and if notice is not given a default period may apply. Again: those are common terms, not your terms. Your order’s exact wording, and your attorney’s reading of it, decide.

This matters for records, not just planning. If you ever need to show which nights the order gave you and which you actually had, the planned side has to be right. Our explainer on how courts count parenting time covers why overnights are the unit that usually matters.

What an SPO calendar has to get right

The weekend pattern by month, including 5th weekends, not by repeating two-week blocks.
Weekday time as your order states it, such as a Thursday evening during the school year, kept separate from overnights.
Holidays by even and odd year, so Thanksgiving or spring break lands with the right parent each year.
Summer, including dates that are not known until notice is given, and the notice deadline itself.
Whose time is whose. Orders often spell out one parent’s periods and leave the other parent’s as “all other times.” A tool has to know which parent you are.

1. Custody Proofours

Best for: turning an SPO into an accurate private calendar, then tracking what actually happened against it
Price: $14.75/month or $144/year (Case Builder with the AI assistant: $29/month or $278/year). 30-day money-back guarantee on your first charge
Who can see it: Only you. The other parent is never invited and never notified.

This is ours, and this kind of order is one of the reasons the schedule setup works the way it does. You upload your order (a PDF or a scan) or type the schedule in plain words. It reads the repeating pattern, including monthly “1st, 3rd and 5th weekend” patterns, the holiday schedule with its even and odd years, summer periods, exchange and return times, and notice deadlines.

It does not guess. It asks which parent you are, because an SPO often describes the other parent’s periods and leaves yours as everything else, and reading that backwards would flip your whole year. It asks you to confirm the start date and anything it found unclear, and nothing is saved until you confirm. Summer or holiday time that is “to be designated” can be saved undated, and you are reminded to add the dates. A notice deadline like “written notice by April 1” becomes an in-app reminder.

Once the schedule is saved, the calendar fills forward, and optionally back to the order’s start date. You log what actually happened, and the Plan vs. Actual view shows every day that differed from the order so you can fix it or keep it. Reports export as PDF or CSV, with a planned-vs-actual section.

Where it falls short: It reads what the order says. It cannot tell you what an ambiguous clause means or whether your order was modified later, and it does not coordinate with the other parent: no messaging, no shared calendar.

2. A shared family calendar or co-parenting app

Best for: coordinating pickups and swaps with the other parent day to day
Price: Free, or varies by product, often per parent and by feature tier
Who can see it: Both parents

If you and the other parent coordinate well, a shared calendar may be the better everyday tool, and we would rather say so. Both of you see the same pickup time, swaps get agreed in one place, and nobody is surprised on a Friday afternoon. A co-parenting app does the same with a logged message history.

The catch for an SPO is setup. Someone has to enter the 1st, 3rd and 5th weekends month by month and the holidays year by year, and both parents have to agree it is right. If the shared calendar was built with a two-week repeat, it is wrong in every five-Friday month.

Where it falls short: Shared by design, so it is not a private record, and most general calendars cannot express a monthly ordinal pattern or even and odd year holidays without manual entry.

3. A printed year calendar, marked by hand

Best for: a free, accurate plan if you sit down with the order once a year
Price: Free to a few dollars
Who can see it: Whoever has it

This works better than people expect. Print a full year. Count the Fridays in each month and highlight your weekends from the order. Mark Thursdays during the school year. Then go through the holiday section and mark each holiday for this year’s parity. Write the notice deadline in red. It takes an evening and it is right.

What it does not do is keep the record of what actually happened, unless you also write on it every day, and it does not travel with you.

Where it falls short: Planning only, no totals, and you redo it every year.

4. A spreadsheet

Best for: parents comfortable writing formulas who want to see the logic
Price: Free
Who can see it: Only you, if you keep the file private

One row per day, a column for which Friday of the month it is, a column for the year’s parity, and a planned and actual column. Done carefully, it can model an SPO. Done quickly, it gets the 5th weekend or the holiday parity wrong and nobody notices until a dispute.

Where it falls short: Easy to build an error into a formula, and holidays and summer have to be overlaid by hand.

5. Your attorney

Best for: the parts of the order you are not sure how to read
Price: Varies
Who can see it: You and your attorney

No tool replaces this for the questions that actually carry risk: whether your order modifies the standard terms, how a holiday that overlaps a weekend is handled under your wording, what notice has to look like and when it is due. Bring the specific clause and a specific question. The calendar is only as good as your reading of the order.

Our pick

If you have a standard or expanded standard possession order and want a calendar that matches it, including 5th weekends and even and odd year holidays, plus a private record of what actually happened: that is what Custody Proof was set up to handle. Upload the order, answer the questions it asks, and check the result against your order before you rely on it.

If you and the other parent coordinate well and mainly need to agree on pickups: a shared calendar or co-parenting app may serve you better day to day. Just enter the weekends by month, not with a two-week repeat.

What we’d do today

Find the possession section of your current order, and any later modification. Make sure you are reading the version that is actually in effect.
Count the Fridays in each of the next three months and mark your weekends by hand. Note any month with five.
List the holidays your order assigns by even and odd year, and write down who has each one this year.
Find any written-notice deadline for summer or holidays and put it somewhere you will see it well before the date.
Write down every clause you are not sure how to read, and ask your attorney about those, not about the whole order.

Questions

Is a Texas standard possession order the same as every other weekend?

No. A standard possession order commonly uses the 1st, 3rd and 5th weekends of each month, which resets every month. Every other weekend repeats every two weeks. They drift apart, most visibly in months with five Fridays. Read your own order, since many are modified.

What happens with 5th weekends?

In months with five Fridays, a 1st, 3rd and 5th weekend pattern often gives the same parent two weekends in a row, the 5th of one month and the 1st of the next. Custody Proof reads monthly ordinal patterns, so 5th weekends land where the order puts them. How your order handles them is a question for your order and your attorney.

Does Custody Proof remind me about the April 1 summer notice?

If your order states a notice deadline, Custody Proof can pull it from the uploaded order as an in-app reminder. The reminder is a convenience, not legal advice. Your order sets the actual deadline and the form notice must take.

My order describes the other parent’s weekends, not mine. Can it handle that?

Yes. Custody Proof asks which parent you are and never guesses, because orders often spell out one parent’s periods and leave the other’s as all other times. You confirm the result before anything saves.

Is this legal advice about my Texas order?

No. Custody Proof is not a law firm. This guide describes terms a standard possession order commonly contains. Your order may be different or modified, and your attorney is the person to ask what it means.

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A private record for one parent. The other parent is never invited and never notified. Documentation is $14.75/month or $144/year. If it isn't right for you, refund yourself from Settings within 30 days of your first charge.

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Custody Proof’s prices and features on this page were checked in October 2026. The other options are described as categories, not products, so check any specific app’s current terms before you rely on it.