Parenting Plan Template: What to Include (Checklist)

A parenting plan needs to answer eleven sets of questions: who makes major decisions, the regular schedule, holidays and vacations, exchanges and driving, how you’ll communicate, right of first refusal, school and activities, expenses and insurance, taxes, travel and moves, and how you’ll settle disagreements and review the plan. If your state court publishes a parenting plan form, that form is your template. Use the checklist below to make sure you’ve decided every answer before you fill it in. A blank box on a court form is where the next fight starts.

This is a planning checklist, not legal advice. Every court source below was loaded and read on October 15, 2026. Custody law and forms differ by state, and a family law attorney or your court’s self-help center beats a blog on anything you’re about to sign.

Start with your state’s form, not a blank page

Most of the “free parenting plan template” downloads online are generic documents that no court wrote. Your state court’s form is the version a judge expects to see, in the order they expect to see it. Two examples:

• California’s self-help guide on child custody and parenting time says a parenting plan “should describe” how to care for your children, where they will live, and when they will see each parent, and that plans “must be in the best interest of your children.” It also says that until there’s a court order, both parents have the same rights.
• Ohio’s Supreme Court publishes Uniform Domestic Relations Form 20, the Shared Parenting Plan (amended June 1, 2021, 18 pages). It opens by saying it is “highly recommended that you consult an attorney,” and requires a parenting time schedule to be attached.

Search “[your state] parenting plan form” on your state court’s own site. If your county has its own version, use the county’s. The checklist works with any of them.

The checklist at a glance

#	Section	The questions it has to answer
1	Decision-making	Joint or sole? Which decisions count as major? Who breaks a tie?
2	Regular schedule	Which nights, school year and summer? What day and time do exchanges happen?
3	Holidays and vacations	Which holidays, odd or even years, start and end times? How much vacation notice?
4	Exchanges and transportation	Where, who drives, what if someone is late?
5	Communication	Which channel between parents? When does the child call the other parent?
6	Right of first refusal	Do you offer the other parent the time first? After how many hours?
7	School and activities	Whose address sets the school? Who signs the child up, and who drives?
8	Expenses and insurance	Who pays for activities, school costs and uncovered medical bills? How fast do you reimburse?
9	Taxes	Who claims which child, and in which years?
10	Travel and relocation	What notice before a trip or a move?
11	Disagreements and review	What happens before court? When do you revisit the plan?

Ohio’s Form 20 runs in a similar order: parents’ rights, then parenting time, school placement, education and medical decisions, activities, and health care. After that come child support, health insurance, tax dependency and modification.

1. Decision-making (legal custody)

California’s guide splits custody in two. Legal custody is “who makes important decisions for your children (like health care, education, welfare)”, and physical custody is who they live with most of the time. Either can be joint or sole. Its examples of important decisions are school or childcare, religious activities, mental health counseling, medical and dental care (except emergencies), sports, camp and extracurriculars, and travel.

Decide:

• Joint or sole decision-making, and whether that differs by area (school versus medical).
• What counts as “major”. A list beats a vague word.
• The tie-breaker. Ohio’s form handles this directly. For education decisions other than school placement, it has you name the parent whose decision “shall be binding” if you can’t agree, and it does the same for a disputed medical treatment. Joint decision-making with no tie-break is a plan to go back to court.
• Emergencies: either parent can consent to emergency care, and tells the other right away.

2. The regular schedule

This is the calendar of overnights, and it’s the section most plans get right. The questions people forget are around the edges. Ohio’s online dispute resolution checklist for a shared parenting plan asks separately for the school-year schedule, the summer schedule, and the vacation/staycation plan. A plan that only describes the school year leaves June undecided.

Decide:

• The rotation (2-2-3, week on/week off, every other weekend and so on), drawn on a real calendar. The co-parenting calendar template is that grid, with the overnight count.
• The exact exchange day and time (“Fridays at 6pm”, not “Friday evening”).
• Whether summer switches to a different rotation, and on what date it starts and ends.
• What happens on school days off that aren’t holidays: teacher work days, snow days.

3. Holidays, special days and vacations

Ohio’s form says the attached schedule must show the times the children are with each parent “on weekdays, weekends, holidays and days of special meaning, and vacations.” California’s guide lists birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day “and other important dates for the family”.

Decide:

• The list of holidays, written out. Ones you don’t list fall back to the regular schedule.
• Alternating years (odd and even) or a split day, for each holiday.
• Start and end times for every holiday. “Thanksgiving” alone is how a 2pm argument begins.
• That holidays override the regular schedule, and vacation overrides neither, unless you say otherwise.
• How much advance notice is needed to claim vacation time, and how many days in a row.

The holiday custody schedule guide has the alternating-year tables to copy.

4. Exchanges and transportation

Unless the parents agree otherwise, Ohio’s form makes each parent responsible for transportation at the beginning of their own parenting time. Each parent handles school drop-off and pickup during their own time. It leaves a blank line for any other arrangement.

Decide:

• The exchange location: a home, school, or a neutral public place.
• Who drives each way, and who covers the cost if one of you moves farther away.
• A grace window (“15 minutes late, text; 30 minutes late, the exchange moves to…”).
• Who else may do a pickup (a grandparent, a new partner) and whether the other parent is told first.
• Using school as the exchange point. It removes face-to-face handoffs, which is worth a lot in a tense split.

5. Communication

Ohio’s form gives each parent “the right to reasonable telephone contact with the child(ren) when they are with the other parent.” It also requires each parent to notify the other of a serious injury, a serious illness, or an emergency room or hospital visit “as soon as practical, but in any event within twenty-four (24) hours.” California’s guide notes that video calls (“virtual visits”) are often part of a plan, especially when a parent lives far away.

Decide:

• One channel between parents (a co-parenting app, email, or text) and what it’s used for. Write it down, because “he called, I didn’t answer” is not a record.
• A response window for non-urgent questions (for example, 48 hours).
• When the child calls the parent who isn’t there: a fixed window, such as 7:00–7:15pm, beats “reasonable”.
• What gets shared without being asked: report cards, school notices, medical appointments, a new address or phone number.

6. Right of first refusal

A right of first refusal clause says that if one parent can’t care for the child for more than a set time, the other parent gets offered that time before a sitter does. It’s optional, it’s easy to write badly, and the details (how many hours, how much notice, who drives) decide whether it helps or becomes a monitoring tool. The right of first refusal guide walks through each choice as questions to take to an attorney.

7. School and activities

Ohio’s form has you designate one parent as “the residential parent for school placement purposes,” and its checklist notes that for a public school, “this parent’s address may determine school attendance.” The form says that designation does not change either parent’s status as a residential parent. For activities, its default wording is that “neither parent will unreasonably withhold agreement,” and that activities shouldn’t be scheduled in a way that causes “undue inconvenience or harassment to the other parent.”

Decide:

• Whose address is used for school enrollment.
• Whether one parent may sign the child up for an activity that falls on the other parent’s time.
• Who drives to activities on each parent’s time.
• That both parents are listed with the school and can see records. Ohio’s form lists the right to inspect school records and receive school notices as a parent’s right unless the plan says otherwise.

8. Expenses and insurance

Child support is usually set separately, by formula. Ohio’s form has its own child support section and points to the county child support agency. Write the plan so that it doesn’t contradict the support order. What the plan should settle is everything the support order doesn’t cover.

Decide:

• Activity and school costs: the split (50/50, or in proportion to income) and a cap above which both must agree first. The school expenses guide lists the costs that catch people out.
• Reimbursement mechanics. Ohio’s default is that the parent who gets a bill forwards a copy “as soon as practicable,” and that payment is made “within thirty (30) days of receipt of the bill or invoice.” Pick a number and a method (an app, a shared spreadsheet, receipts by email).
• Health insurance: who carries the child, and how uncovered medical, dental and vision costs are split. Ohio’s form gives health insurance and uncovered health care costs two full sections.

9. Taxes

Ohio’s form has a separate tax dependency section, and its checklist asks directly: “Which parent will claim which child on their taxes?” Alternating years and splitting siblings are both common answers. Federal tax law has its own test for who may claim a child, separate from anything you agree, so have a tax preparer (or an IRS VITA volunteer site, if you qualify) check this section against it before you sign.

10. Travel and relocation

Among the parents’ rights, Ohio’s form lists the right “to receive notice of the other parent’s intention to relocate,” and its relocation section requires a written notice of intent to relocate filed with the court. That’s Ohio’s rule under Ohio law. Your state will have its own, and it can be strict.

Decide:

• Notice before out-of-state or overnight travel on your own time: how far ahead, and what’s shared (dates, where, a phone number).
• International travel: consent and who holds the passport.
• The distance or move that triggers a review of the whole schedule.

11. Disagreements, changes and a review date

This is the section most templates skip, and it decides whether the plan survives.

Disagreements. Ohio’s Supreme Court runs an online dispute resolution negotiation for shared parenting plans, which is where that checklist comes from. You can build the same ladder into your plan:

1. Raise it in writing, on the agreed channel.
2. Try to agree within a set number of days.
3. Mediation before court, with the cost split agreed in advance.
4. Court as the last step.

Changes. Ohio’s form says the plan “may be modified by agreement of the parties or by the Court.” Its parenting-time section adds the catch every co-parent should know: “the Court cannot enforce any change in the parenting time schedule unless it is made an Order of the Court.” Informal swaps are fine, and they’re how most families run. Keep a written record of each one. If a change becomes permanent, get it formalized.

A review date. Plans written for a toddler rarely fit a teenager. Consider writing in a review at natural transitions: starting kindergarten, starting middle school, or when either parent moves. Treat it as a scheduled conversation, not an automatic change.

Wording that makes a plan fail

Vague	Specific
”Reasonable parenting time"	"Every other weekend, Friday 6pm to Sunday 6pm"
"Holidays will be shared"	"Thanksgiving: Parent A in odd years, Wednesday 6pm to Friday 6pm"
"Parents will split costs"	"Activity costs split 50/50; anything over $X needs written agreement first; reimbursed within 30 days"
"Parents will communicate"	"All scheduling by app; non-urgent replies within 48 hours"
"Make major decisions together"	"Joint; if no agreement within 14 days, mediation; medical tie-break: Parent B”

Every example clause on this page is illustrative, written to show the level of detail, not legal language to copy. Your state’s form and your attorney supply the wording.

If safety is part of the picture

California’s guide says that if you or your child have been abused by the other parent, “special laws in domestic violence cases apply.” Don’t negotiate a standard plan from a standard checklist in that situation. Talk to a family law attorney or a domestic violence advocate first, about supervised exchanges, communication limits and what the plan should leave out.

FAQ: parenting plan templates

Is a parenting plan the same as a custody order? Not until a judge signs it. California’s guide describes plans as containing orders about custody and parenting time, and Ohio’s form says that once the court approves it, the plan is incorporated into the judgment entry. A plan you both signed but never filed is a private agreement.

Do I need a lawyer to write a parenting plan? Courts publish forms so parents can use them, and many have self-help centers. Ohio’s own form still says it’s “highly recommended that you consult an attorney.” At minimum, have a lawyer review it before you file, especially the decision-making, relocation and tax sections.

Can we change the plan without going back to court? You can agree to swaps day to day, but under Ohio’s form the court can’t enforce a schedule change that hasn’t been made a court order. Most states work similarly. Get lasting changes formalized.

What’s the difference between a parenting plan and a custody calendar? The calendar is one section of the plan: which nights the child spends where. The plan is the whole agreement around it: decisions, holidays, money, travel and what happens when you disagree.