Also called a custody agreement
A complete parenting plan template — also called a custody agreement — covering schedule, decisions, communication, and every other section a court expects. Free download, court-ready.
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.
Every parenting plan covers the same core sections. Click any of them to see a detailed explainer for that part of the document.
The rotation pattern — 50/50, 60/40, 70/30, or custom. The most-negotiated section of any parenting plan.
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.
Filling out a parenting plan takes most coparents about an hour if they’ve already discussed the basics, longer if they’re working through disagreements. Here’s the order most family-law attorneys recommend.
Pick the rotation that fits your family — 50/50, 60/40, 70/30, or a custom pattern. Kidtime's free schedule wizard walks you through the common options and shows the calendar before you commit.
Work through the 10 sections below: schedule, decision-making, communication, exchanges, right of first refusal, travel, holidays, healthcare/education/childcare, money, and dispute resolution. Each section has a short explainer and sensible defaults you can accept or override.
Walk through the filled template together — or send it to your coparent's attorney for review. Disagreements at this stage are normal and far cheaper to resolve in negotiation than in court.
If your state requires a filed parenting plan as part of a divorce or custody case, your attorney files the signed version. If you're agreeing privately without a court case, both parents signing and notarizing the document is usually enough — but check your state's rules.
The custody schedule is the foundation every other section of the parenting plan builds on. Pick yours first, then come back to fill out the rest.
On its own, a filled-out template is a written agreement between two parents — useful as a record but not enforceable by the court until it's submitted as part of a custody case and signed by a judge. Most states accept a parenting plan that both parents have signed in front of a notary as the basis for a court order. If you want it to be enforceable from day one, file it with the court as a stipulated parenting plan or have your attorney submit it as part of your divorce decree.
That's normal — most plans go through several rounds of edits before both parents sign. Use the template as the starting point: fill it in with what you'd ideally want, share it with your coparent, and negotiate the disputed sections. If a few sections remain stuck, family-law mediators charge a fraction of what litigation costs and resolve most disagreements in one or two sessions.
Yes. Parenting plans are designed to evolve as kids age and circumstances change — most include a clause requiring annual or biennial review. Minor changes (small schedule shifts, agreed-upon exceptions) only need both parents' written agreement. Major changes (relocation, custody-percentage shifts, decision-making authority) usually require court approval, especially if your plan is part of a court order.
Not necessarily — many coparents fill out a parenting plan template together and either notarize it privately or have a single neutral attorney review it before signing. But if your custody case involves contested issues (relocation, abuse allegations, significantly different parenting capabilities), having your own attorney review the plan before you sign protects you. The template is a starting point, not a substitute for legal advice in a contested case.
In most states they're the same document with different names. "Parenting plan" tends to be the statutory term used by family courts (Florida, California, Washington) and emphasizes the forward-looking, behavioral aspects: communication, decision-making, holidays. "Custody agreement" is more often used in attorney drafting and emphasizes the legal designation of custody (legal vs. physical, sole vs. joint) and the schedule. Both cover the same ground; pick whichever your state, your judge, or your attorney uses.
The template covers every section that family courts in any US state expect. Some states have additional state-specific requirements — Florida requires a designated time-sharing schedule and decision-making language; California requires a specific child-custody form (FL-341); Washington requires details about residential time. After filling out the template, check your state's family court website for any required state-specific forms that supplement (not replace) the parenting plan.
Most filed parenting plans run 8 to 15 pages once filled out. High-conflict situations or complex schedules push it longer (20+ pages with detailed contingencies). The right length is whatever it takes to make the document specific enough that an outside reader could follow it without asking either parent for clarification — that's the standard a judge uses if they ever need to enforce it.
Long-distance parenting plans are explicitly covered in this template's travel and relocation sections. The plan also needs to designate which state has jurisdiction (usually the child's home state, defined as where the child has lived for the past 6 months under the UCCJEA). Long-distance plans tend to use longer block schedules — extended summers, alternate school breaks — instead of frequent transitions. The custody schedule wizard has dedicated long-distance options.
Start with the custody schedule — Kidtime's free wizard covers the most-negotiated section in minutes.