Parenting Plan Examples: Real Clauses and Schedules

The most useful parenting plan examples show you two things: how a schedule looks on a calendar, and how the clauses around it are worded. Below you will find both: sample schedules, sample clause language for holidays, exchanges, changes and disputes, and pointers to official state court forms so you can see what your own court expects.

One caution before the samples. An example is a starting point, not a plan. Courts and statutes differ by state, and a plan that fits someone else's work hours, distance and child will not automatically fit yours.

• A solid plan covers decision-making, a regular schedule, holidays and breaks, exchanges, communication, changes, and a dispute process.
• Schedules should follow the child's age and your real routines. No "70/30 rule" exists in the guidelines we reviewed.
• Official state court forms are the best free examples of required wording. Use the one for your state, then personalize it.
• Clauses that allow reasonable flexibility prevent more fights than a rigid calendar does.
• Write the plan around what you actually do now, and build in a review date.

• What a complete parenting plan contains
• Sample parenting time schedules
• Example clauses you can adapt
• State forms: the best free examples
• How to adapt an example to your family
• Our perspective
• Build your own plan
• FAQ
• Sources

States word their requirements differently, but the building blocks repeat. Arizona's statute is a good reference: it covers decision-making, the parenting time schedule, exchanges, information sharing, a dispute process and a way to review and modify the plan. North Dakota's court instructions list seven minimum provisions that the plan must include. In New Hampshire, the statute requires parents to develop a plan in any proceeding that sets or changes parenting time.

The Maricopa County Superior Court self-service guide describes the decision-making part as covering education, health care, religious training and personal care. Put together, a plan needs these parts:

1. Decision-making. Who decides about school, medical care, religion and activities, and whether you decide jointly or split areas.
2. Regular schedule. Which days and overnights belong to each home.
3. Holidays, school breaks and birthdays. Which override the regular schedule.
4. Exchanges and transportation. Where, when and who drives.
5. Communication. Between parents, and between the child and the other parent.
6. Changes and flexibility. How to ask, how fast to answer.
7. Dispute resolution. What you do before anyone files anything.
8. Review. When you will revisit the plan.

The sections below give example wording for each.

These are common patterns. Each row shows how the child's time divides across a two-week cycle.

| Schedule | How it works | Often considered when | |---|---|---| | 2-2-3 | Parent A has Monday and Tuesday, Parent B has Wednesday and Thursday, then the weekend alternates | Parents live close together and the child is young enough to need frequent contact | | 2-2-5-5 | Same two weekdays each week, with fixed 5-day blocks on the other days | Parents want predictable weekdays and the same routine every week | | Alternating weeks | One full week with each parent, with an exchange on a set day | Older children, parents with stable schedules and homes near school | | Every other weekend plus midweek dinner | One parent has the weekday base, the other has alternating weekends plus one weeknight visit | One parent works long or irregular hours, or the homes are far apart | | 5-2-2-5 | Weekdays split, weekends rotate by week | Parents want fewer exchanges than 2-2-3 |

If you want printable versions to try, our free custody schedule templates include 50/50 layouts and others.

Matching the schedule to your child's age

Schedules are developmental. The Michigan Parenting Time Guideline ties parenting time to the child's age, the distance between homes and each parent's history with the child. It does not set a fixed percentage split. Babies and toddlers generally fit shorter, more frequent contact. School-age children and teens usually need room for school, friends and activities.

Some courts publish age-based examples. The Oregon Judicial Department's Basic Parenting Plan Guide includes parenting plan schedules for each age group. The Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court's standard schedule is an example of a court default, which is a baseline and not a ruling on what is best for your family. For our own breakdown, see age-by-age parenting schedules and what the research supports and choosing a parenting time schedule that fits your child.

A note on the "70/30 rule"

Parents often ask about a 70/30 rule. In the Michigan guideline above and the other court materials we reviewed, schedules are set by child age, distance and history, not by a required ratio. A 70/30 split can be a result of those factors, but it is not a rule to aim for.

The wording below is illustrative. Treat it as a draft to adjust to your state's form and, where appropriate, to review with a family law attorney or mediator.

Regular schedule

The child will reside with Parent A from Sunday at 6:00 p.m. through Thursday at school drop-off, and with Parent B from Thursday after school through Sunday at 6:00 p.m., in alternating weeks. The school calendar controls when school is in session.

Notice what it names: days, times and who handles school drop-off. Vague phrases such as "reasonable visitation" create disputes. The Georgia court form from Fulton County Superior Court is typical of forms that ask you to fill in exact start and end times, which is the habit worth copying. (We are naming the form for context only; check your own court's current version.)

Indiana's guidelines add a practical tip: it is often helpful to create a year-long parenting time calendar. If you can see the year at once, conflicts over holidays and school breaks surface before they happen.

Holidays and school breaks

Holidays take priority over the regular schedule. Thanksgiving: Parent A in even-numbered years, Parent B in odd-numbered years, from the day before at 6:00 p.m. through the day after at 6:00 p.m. Winter break is divided into two equal halves, with the exchange at noon on the midpoint day. Mother's Day and Father's Day weekends belong to the respective parent. Time lost to a holiday is not made up.

The even-and-odd-year pattern is the one the New Hampshire form context uses in its Thanksgiving example. Decide up front what happens when a holiday collides with the regular weekend. The Nebraska parent-created plan is an example of a form that handles this by skipping the weekend and carrying it forward to the next, so check your state's form for similar language.

Do not forget summer. Many plans split it into two-week or one-month blocks and require each parent to give their dates by a deadline, such as April 1.

Exchanges and transportation

The parent beginning parenting time will pick up the child at the other parent's home unless the exchange occurs at school. The receiving parent will be on time, and a parent running more than 20 minutes late will send a text message. Child's belongings, medications and school items travel with the child.

The specifics matter: who drives, where you meet, and what "late" means. If you need a neutral location, say so and name it.

Communication and information sharing

Both parents have access to school, medical and activity records and will be listed as contacts. Parents will communicate about the child in writing, through [agreed method], and respond within 48 hours unless urgent. The child may call the other parent at reasonable times.

Most conflict happens in the inbox. A clause on channel and response time takes pressure off. Our piece on the divorce email boundary explains why. If your children are online, consider a social media clause too.

Changes, flexibility and right of first refusal

A parent requesting a temporary change will ask as early as possible and in writing. The other parent will answer within 24 hours. If a parent will be away overnight during their parenting time, they will first offer the time to the other parent before arranging other childcare.

The second sentence is a right of first refusal. Some practitioners favor clauses like this because rigid calendars can turn small, child-driven adjustments into breaches of a court order. Choose the threshold carefully. A trigger of four hours can mean constant offers, while overnight is simpler to follow.

Dispute resolution

If the parents disagree about this plan, they will (1) discuss it directly within 7 days, (2) if unresolved, attend mediation with a neutral professional, and (3) only then file with the court. Parents will share the mediator's fee equally unless agreed otherwise.

The tiered approach appears in the court materials, such as North Dakota's parenting plan instructions, and it gives you a path other than court when a minor disagreement arises. For how to prepare, see our guide to parenting plan mediation.

Review and modification

The parents will review this plan each year in August, and sooner when the child changes schools, either parent relocates, or a parent's work schedule changes substantially. Changes must be in writing and signed.

Arizona's statute lists a procedure for review and modification among the contents of a plan. Whatever your state requires, a plan that expects to change is easier to live with than one that pretends it will not.

Court forms are worth reading even if you will not fill them in as written. They show what your judge expects to see and the order in which topics appear.

The forms differ in style. Some are checkbox forms. Others are narrative examples. For instance, the Seventh Judicial District Court in Nevada offers a sample showing how entries should be completed, with the note that it is a demonstration and not a template to copy. Judicial branch websites in your state are the first place to look.

We also cover specific states where readers ask most: Florida's approved forms and filing tools, Washington's parenting plan cases, and Indiana's parenting time guidelines.

Why not just accept a template

A template is generic by design. If a judge or a court clerk hands you a standard plan, it is worth asking whether it suits your child, work hours and distance. We explain the risks in never let a judge hand you a template parenting plan, and we describe the five clauses that cause the most post-divorce conflict.

1. Start from what you actually do. The plan that works is the one built on real work schedules, commute times and your child's temperament, not an idealized version of how cooperative you hope to be. The Maricopa County guidance points the same way: a blend of specifics and flexibility.
2. Pick the schedule first, then the clauses. Test it against a calendar for the whole school year.
3. Write exact times and places. Replace "after school" with a time, and "nearby" with an address or a school.
4. Add a flexibility clause and a dispute ladder. A perfect plan is not one that prevents all disagreement. It is one that tells you what to do when disagreement comes.
5. Plan for the unplanned. Think about relocation, travel, new partners, and what happens if a parent can no longer care for the child. Wills and guardianship are separate legal matters outside a parenting plan. For a sense of how they work elsewhere, an Australian service explains special circumstances will planning for divorce and blended families, though the rules are specific to Australia and your state's law governs you.
6. Set a review date. Children change fast.

Research supports taking this seriously. A study of a co-parenting education program reported lower co-parenting conflict in the treatment group than in controls, along with better child adjustment measures. Legal scholars also describe the shift to parenting plans as a way to move custody disputes away from contested hearings and toward self-determination and problem solving.

Most parents who come to us have already seen a sample plan or two. What goes wrong is not a missing paragraph. It is that the plan was written for an imagined family. One parent proposes a 50/50 rotation while working nights, or a schedule is copied from a friend and nobody checks the school calendar.

We built CoParent Navigator on a simple belief: one parent should be able to draft a complete, state-specific plan on their own, without waiting through weeks of back-and-forth that costs money and patience. Our clause library is research-backed, and we update our legal guidance regularly. A draft gives the other parent, a mediator or an attorney something concrete to react to, and that tends to lower the temperature.

We also think a plan is a safety net, not a script. Write it so that when something changes, both of you already know what to do.

— Heather

If you would rather not assemble clauses from five different PDFs, CoParent Navigator lets you create a personalized, state-specific custodial plan from our clause library. Already have a draft? Evaluate your parenting plan to see where it is thin. Attorneys and mediators can see how we support client communication on our attorney page. For more reading, browse the co-parenting blog and our guide on the anatomy of a strong parenting plan.

What should be included in a parenting plan?

At minimum: decision-making for major issues, a regular schedule, holidays and school breaks, exchanges, communication, a way to handle changes, and steps for resolving disputes. Your state may require more, so check your court's form or statute. A review date is a smart addition.

What is the 70/30 rule in parenting?

There is no such rule in the court guidelines we reviewed. Schedules are set by the child's age, distance between homes and each parent's history with the child. Some families end up near 70/30 for those reasons, but it is an outcome, not a requirement.

How do I write a good parenting plan?

Start from your real routines, choose a schedule that fits your child's age, and write exact times and places. Add a flexibility clause, a dispute ladder of direct talk, then mediation, then court, and a yearly review. Then compare your draft with your state's court form.

Can both parents sign the plan?

Yes, and in many states that makes it an agreed plan. Some court forms distinguish a plan both parents sign from a proposal only one parent submits, and the court treats them differently. Ask your court clerk or a family law attorney how it works where you live.

• Arizona Revised Statutes 25-403.02, Parenting plans
• North Dakota Exhibit B: Parenting Plan instructions
• New Hampshire RSA 461-A:4, Parenting plans; contents
• Maricopa County Superior Court self-service guide
• Michigan Parenting Time Guideline
• Oregon Judicial Department, Basic Parenting Plan Guide
• Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court, Standard Parenting Time Schedule
• Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines
• Oklahoma State University Extension, Co-Parenting for Resilience study
• Closing the Gap: Research, Policy, Practice, and Shared Parenting

• 2-2-3 Parenting Schedule: Court-Ready Clauses and Printable Calendars
• Free Custody Schedule Templates — 50/50 & More
• Choosing a Parenting Time Schedule That Fits Your Child
• Illinois Parenting Plans: 10 Required Terms, Schedules, and Forms

Informational only, not legal advice. Review filing, approval and enforceability requirements with a qualified professional in your jurisdiction.