Also called a custody agreement
An AI assistant walks you through every section — schedule, decisions, communication, holidays, and the rest — and writes your parenting plan (also called a custody agreement) as you talk. No blank page, no legal jargon.
Either parent can ask to swap a weekend. If Alex and Jordan agree, the parent who gave up time picks a makeup day within 30 days. If they can’t agree, the regular schedule stands.
Building a parenting plan usually means a blank template and a lot of legal guesswork. Kidtime’s assistant does the hard part — you just talk it through.
Talk or type. The assistant asks about your kids, your schedule, and how you and your coparent split time — no forms to figure out, no blank page to stare at.
Schedule, decisions, communication, holidays, travel, expenses — the assistant turns your plain answers into clear, court-ready wording, one section at a time.
Watch your plan build as you go. Change anything, add what's specific to your family, and see the whole document come together — no legal jargon required.
A parenting plan is the written document two coparents follow to raise their kids across two households. Most states call it a parenting plan; some call it a custody agreement, parenting agreement, or shared parenting agreement. The document is the same: it spells out who has the kids when, who makes which decisions, how the parents communicate, and what happens when something falls outside the routine. A good parenting plan is detailed enough that a stranger could pick it up and know exactly what's supposed to happen on any given day — that's the standard family-law judges use when they review one.
Even amicable coparents drift over time without a written agreement. Memory differs, new partners and jobs and schools change the picture, and what felt like a handshake deal becomes a source of conflict two years in. A written parenting plan locks in the things you agreed to when you were thinking clearly, gives both parents the same reference document, and gives a judge something concrete to review if you ever end up in court. Most states require a filed parenting plan as part of any custody case — and even when they don't, having one in writing is the difference between a clean coparenting relationship and one that quietly degrades.
Your parenting plan covers every section a court expects — the assistant walks you through each one. Tap any to see what goes into it.
The rotation pattern — 50/50, 60/40, 70/30, or custom. The most-negotiated section of any parenting plan.
Three filled-in sample parenting plans — 50/50, long-distance, and 70/30 — with the actual provisions written out.
Right of first refusal (sometimes called "first right of refusal custody") is a clause that says if a parent can't be with the kids for more than X hours during their parenting time, the other parent gets the option before a babysitter, grandparent, or daycare does.
Decision-making authority is the section of the parenting plan that says who decides what — medical care, school choice, religious upbringing, mental health treatment, extracurriculars. This is what "legal custody" actually means.
How and how often coparents communicate — and what they communicate about — is one of the most-fought-over parts of any parenting plan. Writing it down prevents 80% of those fights before they start.
The exchange section says exactly when, where, and how the kids move between households. The most common-sense thing to write down — and the most common source of fights when it isn't.
Where the kids can travel, who has to consent, and what happens when one parent wants to move — these are the highest-stakes provisions in any parenting plan because relocation can effectively end a 50/50 schedule.
Holidays override the regular schedule. Whose Thanksgiving? Whose Christmas Eve? Whose summer? The holiday section of the parenting plan is where you decide once instead of fighting every year.
The domain-specific sections of a parenting plan cover the institutions every kid touches — doctors, schools, childcare providers — and define how each parent participates and stays informed.
Child support is usually calculated by your state's formula and lives in a separate worksheet, but the parenting plan still covers uncovered medical, extracurriculars, tax dependency, and how unexpected costs get split.
Even the best parenting plan has gaps. The dispute-resolution section is what kicks in when something the plan didn't anticipate comes up — and the modification section is what lets the plan grow as the kids do.
From the first conversation to a signed document — the assistant handles the drafting, you handle the decisions.
Talk through your situation and the assistant drafts every section — schedule, decisions, holidays, and the rest — in clear, court-ready wording you can adjust.
Before you sign, have your attorney review the plan — that's the step that catches what you'd otherwise miss. Go through it with your coparent too, but an attorney's read is what protects you.
If your state requires a filed parenting plan as part of a divorce or custody case, your attorney files the signed version. Agreeing privately without a court case, both parents signing and notarizing the document is usually enough — but check your state's rules.
Kidtime's AI assistant asks about your family and writes each section of your plan for you — just talk it through. No blank page, no legal jargon, no stress.
Custody rules vary by state — what the plan is called, whether 50/50 is presumed, how child support is calculated, and how relocation is handled. See the specifics for your state:
How custody works in Texas — conservatorship, the Standard Possession Order default schedule, child support, and geographic restrictions. Plain-language guide with statute citations.
How custody works in Florida — parental responsibility, the 50/50 time-sharing presumption, parenting plans, child support, and the 50-mile relocation rule. Plain-language guide with statute citations.
How custody works in Ohio — allocation of parental rights, shared parenting plans, parenting time, child support, and relocation. Plain-language guide with statute citations.
Browse plain-language custody-law guides for every state.