If you and your spouse have decided to end your marriage, you will focus on spending time with your children and helping them to adapt following the divorce.
Part of the divorce proceedings will include creating an effective parenting plan to achieve your goals and assure the court that you have the children’s best interests in mind.
About the parenting plan
Your parenting plan will serve as a guide to show how you and the other parent intend to raise the children once the divorce is behind you. It will also show how you will resolve parenting issues that will inevitably crop up.
Elements to include
Every parenting plan is unique, and you can include as much detail as you like. However, you should include certain basic elements:
- Parenting schedule to indicate when, where and how much time each of you will spend with the children
- Visitation exchange plan and who will take charge of transportation for the children’s extracurricular activities, medical appointments and so on
- Plan for making major decisions about the children’s education, medical needs, religious practices, discipline and more
- How you will share child-related expenses
- Plan for holidays, special events and vacation time
- Plan for resolving conflicts
A look ahead
A parenting plan is a legal document that a judge will carefully review. As part of your divorce process, the court will want details as to how you will care for your children. The best parenting plans are those the parents write together with legal guidance to ensure the documents have everything a court wishes to see. Your parenting plan will serve as a blueprint for raising your children as you enter the next phase of family life in a post-divorce world.