Parenting Plan

Every custody or visitation order must state the basis for jurisdiction, how notice and opportunity to be heard were given, a clear description of each party's custody and visitation rights, a statement that violation…

There is a presumption, affecting the burden of proof, that joint custody is in the child's best interest, subject to section 3011, where the parents have agreed to joint custody or so agree in open court.

Official form page for FL-311, the attachment that gives the court and the other party the details of the custody and visitation (parenting time) orders requested, with the current effective date shown on the page.

Official form page for FL-341, the attachment that states the court's custody and visitation (parenting time) orders and is used with many other forms, with the current effective date shown on the page.

The court is encouraged to ascertain whether any protective or restraining order is in effect and not to make an inconsistent custody or visitation order absent the two findings the section states, with the further…

Where a pleading to obtain or modify a custody or visitation order shows custody or visitation is contested, the court must set the contested issues for mediation, with separate protocols for domestic violence cases and…

Judicial Council rule setting standards of practice and administration for court-connected child custody mediation, defining parenting plan and best interest by reference to Family Code section 3011, and stating the…

Definition: joint legal custody means both parents share the right and responsibility to make decisions relating to the child's health, education and welfare.

Definition: joint physical custody means each parent has significant periods of physical custody, shared to assure frequent and continuing contact with both parents, subject to sections 3011 and 3020.

The court's authority over custody, care, education, visitation and support, decided on the BEST INTERESTS of the child, with the factors the section lists.

The court may make custody and support orders for children of parents who live separately without a dissolution action. The route for unmarried or separated parents.

Joint custody means joint legal decision-making with shared physical custody arranged to assure continuing contact, and joint LEGAL custody may be awarded without joint physical custody.

As between a parent and a third party, there is a presumption that custody with the parent serves the child's best interest, rebuttable as the section provides. The first question in any grandparent or third-party case.

Text on custody and visitation orders for children of a deploying parent, defining armed forces, deploy and deployment and then setting the temporary-order, delegation and post-deployment rules.

Text allowing the Superior Court, in a custody controversy where it has jurisdiction under chapter 815p, to permit an interested third party to intervene and to award custody or visitation to that party, and stating…

Relocation after a final order: the relocating parent bears the burden of showing the move is for a legitimate purpose, the location is reasonable in light of it, and the relocation is in the child's best interests.

Third-party visitation, including by grandparents, and the standard that applies. A demanding test; check it before telling a grandparent they have a claim.

Official Connecticut Judicial Branch form (JD-FM-199, revised 1-26) for the proposed parental responsibility plan under C.G.S.

A custody proceeding is commenced in the Family Court by a parent's petition in the county where the child resides or is found, with notice to the parent, guardian and custodian, intervention for good cause, appointment…

Both parents' rights and responsibilities for a minor child, and the appointment of a guardian. The baseline behind any Delaware custody arrangement.

Delaware's best-interest statute: the Family Court determines legal custody and residential arrangements in the child's best interests considering the listed factors, including the parents' wishes, the child's wishes,…

Text on the incidents of joint and sole legal custody: each parent has the right to information about the child's school progress, medical treatment and significant developments and to reasonable access by telephone or…

The court determines with which parent the child primarily resides and a visitation schedule designed to permit frequent and meaningful contact with both parents unless contact would endanger the child, states the…

Modification rule: a visitation order may be modified at any time in the child's best interests under § 728(a), a consent order, interim order or written agreement on legal custody or residence may be modified under §…

A party seeking to modify a custody order files a verified petition setting out the facts supporting the modification. Read with § 729. This source alone does not establish the showing required in a particular case.

Delaware relocation factors: where litigation involves a proposed relocation of 60 days or more outside Delaware or one that materially affects the custodial arrangement, the court must consider the listed factors…

Who may consent to a minor's health care. Worth addressing in a parenting agreement so a caregiver is not turned away at a clinic.

The statutory AFFIDAVIT by which a parent empowers another adult to consent to a minor's medical treatment. A practical document to prepare alongside a custody or caregiving arrangement.

District of Columbia text on temporary custody and visitation orders when a parent is deployed, including expedited hearings, delegation of visitation to a family member and the return of the pre-deployment arrangement,…

After a judgment, decree or order granting custody, child support or alimony, the court retains jurisdiction to enter future orders modifying or terminating it, to the extent retention does not contravene other…

District of Columbia UCCJEA rule stating when a District court has jurisdiction to make an initial child-custody determination, principally home-state jurisdiction on the date of filing or within six months before.

In a child-custody proceeding each party must give, in its first pleading or an attached affidavit and under oath, the child's present address, the places the child lived during the last five years and the persons the…

The best interest of the child is the primary consideration; the court must make a determination as to both legal custody and physical custody and may order sole legal, sole physical, joint legal, joint physical or…

This is the District's health-insurance and medical-support section: subsection (c-1) requires every support order to carry terms for each child's medical expenses whether or not insurance is available, (c-2) requires…

During the pendency of a divorce, legal separation or annulment action the court may order pendente lite alimony, pendente lite child support including health insurance and cash medical support, and suit money including…

Section 61.13 governs child support and parenting plans. The 2026 comparison changes the history citation only; apply the operative requirements and exceptions to the actual facts.

Official Florida Supreme Court approved family law form for a relocation or long-distance parenting plan, whose instructions direct its use when a parent plans to relocate the principal residence more than 50 miles…

RELOCATION of 50 MILES OR MORE for at least 60 days requires either a signed written agreement of the parties or a petition and court approval, with a detailed notice procedure and specific content requirements.

Official Florida Supreme Court approved family law form for a parenting plan, whose instructions state that a parenting plan is required in all cases involving time-sharing with minor children, that it must be developed…

Official Florida Supreme Court approved family law form for a supervised or safety-focused parenting plan, whose instructions direct its use where a parent believes the children cannot safely be alone with the other…

Support is set by the GUIDELINES SCHEDULE in this section, with a presumption that the guideline amount is correct and written findings required to vary by more than five per cent.

Florida definitions for chapter 61, including parenting plan, defined as a document created to govern the relationship between the parents relating to decisions about the minor child that must contain a time-sharing…

Florida text presuming that a court-appointed psychologist who develops a parenting plan recommendation acts in good faith when following reasonable professional standards, and stating the prerequisite to a parent's…

Florida text on parenting coordination: definitions, when a court may refer the parties to a parenting coordinator, the qualifications and disqualifications of coordinators, confidentiality of communications and the…

Florida text authorizing the parenting course, with the legislative findings, the course content and the requirement, stated later in the section, that parents of minor children in the proceedings it names complete the…

Official Maryland Judiciary form, referencing Maryland Rule 9-204.2, that parties complete when they cannot reach a comprehensive parenting plan, setting out the agreed and disputed points on decision-making authority…

Maryland text barring custody or visitation to a parent found guilty of murdering the other parent, another child or a family member, absent good cause shown by clear and convincing evidence, with the listed exceptions.

Maryland modification standard: the court may modify a custody or visitation order on finding a material change in circumstances since the order that relates to the needs of the child or the parents' ability to meet…

Maryland text giving the equity court jurisdiction over adoption, alimony, annulment, custody or guardianship of a child, visitation and the other listed family matters.

The parents are the joint natural guardians of their minor child and are jointly and severally responsible for the child's support, care, nurture, welfare and education with the same powers and duties;

Maryland text requiring the court, in custody or visitation decisions, to consider evidence of abuse by a party against the other parent, the party's spouse or any child in the household, and to make arrangements that…

Maryland UCCJEA rule stating when a Maryland court has jurisdiction to make an initial custody determination, principally home-state jurisdiction on the date of filing or within six months before.

Supreme Court of Maryland rules order reproducing Rule 9-204.1 as amended, with its definitions of decision-making authority (legal custody), parenting plan (a written agreement about how parties will work together to…

Maryland text allowing the court, before granting a divorce in a case raising child support, custody or visitation, to require the parties to attend an educational seminar on the effects of divorce on children, with…

Where parents of minor children live apart without being divorced, the probate court may on complaint make and revise judgments for the children's care, custody, education and maintenance, applying the child support…

Text on voluntary acknowledgments of parentage and, in its later subsections, on parental agreements regarding custody, support and visitation submitted for court approval.

The court's authority over custody, support and maintenance of children, including support past eighteen for a child principally dependent and enrolled in an educational programme, to the section's age limits.

Text in the divorce chapter: in any temporary or permanent custody order the probate and family court considers evidence of past or present abuse toward a parent or child as a factor contrary to the child's best…

Parallel provision for parents who are not divorcing: the probate and family court considers evidence of abuse toward a parent or child as a factor contrary to the child's best interest, with the same definitions and…

Custody where the parents were never married, including the rule that the mother has sole legal and physical custody until a court orders otherwise absent the section's conditions.

The custody definitions Massachusetts actually uses: SOLE LEGAL, SHARED LEGAL, SOLE PHYSICAL and SHARED PHYSICAL custody, with shared legal custody presumed at the temporary stage absent the findings the section…

Chapter 209C governs parentage, support and custody for children whose parents were never married, and declares those children entitled to the same rights and protections as any other child.

For a minor child of divorced parents who is native to Massachusetts or has resided there five years, and over whose custody and maintenance a probate court has jurisdiction, removal requires the child's consent if of…

A probate court judge may appoint a guardian ad litem to investigate the facts of a proceeding involving the care, custody or maintenance of minor children, who reports in writing before final judgment with the report…

Text of the definitions for custody and parenting-time arrangements during a service member's absence, including "deployment" as a military assignment or training absence of 30 or more days that keeps the member from…

In any proceeding involving custody of a minor child the rights of both parents are equal, and the court may order joint custody comprising legal or physical custody with residential arrangements and consultation…

A person convicted of sexual assault under N.J.S. 2C:14-2 may not be awarded custody of or visitation with any minor child, including a child born of or the victim of the assault, except on clear and convincing evidence…

Text of New Jersey's UCCJEA initial-jurisdiction rule: a court may make an initial custody determination only if New Jersey is the child's home state on the commencement date or was within six months before and a parent…

Each party, in its first pleading or an attached affidavit, must state under oath the child's present address, every place the child has lived in the last five years and the persons the child lived with, and whether the…

Every parent, except as federal or State law prohibits, has access to records and information about an unemancipated child, including medical, dental, insurance, child care and educational records, whether or not the…

Notwithstanding other law, in any action concerning children undertaken by a State department, agency, commission, authority, court or legislative body the best interests of the child are a primary consideration.

The court must order every person filing for divorce, nullity or separate maintenance in which custody, visitation or support of a minor child is at issue to attend the Parents' Education Program, in separate sessions…

Child Support Standards Act text in the Family Court Act: parents of a child under twenty-one are chargeable with support, the court applies the basic child support obligation and the stated percentages, and paragraph…

DRL 240 includes custody and the Child Support Standards Act. Subdivision (1-b)(h) prescribes nonwaivable advisement and presumptively-correct-obligation recitals for the covered agreements or stipulations presented for…

The family court must appoint an attorney for a minor who is the subject of proceedings under articles 3, 7, 10, 10-A and 10-C and the other listed proceedings if independent representation is not available, and in any…

The family court has jurisdiction, on referral from the supreme or county court or when initiated in the family court, to determine habeas corpus proceedings and petitions for custody or visitation of minors in…

In a child custody proceeding each party must give, in its first pleading or an attached affidavit and under oath, the child's present address, the places the child lived in the last five years and the persons the child…

Except for temporary emergency jurisdiction under § 76-c, a New York court may make an initial custody determination only if New York is the child's home state at commencement or was within six months before and a…

On referral from the supreme court the family court may fix temporary or permanent custody and modify custody and visitation judgments in separation, divorce, annulment and dissolution actions, and may grant a…

Either parent of a minor residing in the state may apply to the supreme court for a writ of habeas corpus, and the court may award guardianship, charge and custody to either parent for such time and under such…

UCCJEA definitions: a child custody determination is a judgment, decree or order providing for legal custody, physical custody or visitation, including temporary, initial and modification orders but not support;

OHIO DOES NOT USE THE WORD CUSTODY EITHER. It allocates PARENTAL RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES, either to one parent as RESIDENTIAL PARENT AND LEGAL CUSTODIAN or through a SHARED PARENTING PLAN that a party must actually…

Ohio says PARENTING TIME for a parent and COMPANIONSHIP for grandparents and relatives, with the statutory factors for each. Use the right term for the right person; they are different rights with different standards.

Ohio child support is computed under the statutory worksheet and schedule, with a rebuttable presumption that the calculated amount is correct. The number comes from the current schedule and the parties' figures;

The mother of a child born to unmarried parents is the sole residential parent and legal custodian until a court orders otherwise. Tell an unmarried father this before he assumes shared rights are the starting point.

Ohio text allowing a court, when requested in a pleading or by motion with a filed affidavit, to make a temporary order allocating parental rights and responsibilities while an action is pending, without oral hearing…

Ohio text allowing the court, where the parents of a child in a divorce, dissolution, legal separation, annulment or allocation proceeding do not agree on an allocation of parental rights or a parenting time schedule,…

Ohio text allowing a court, in a divorce, legal separation, annulment or allocation proceeding, to require the parents to attend parenting classes or obtain counseling before it issues an order allocating parental…

Ohio text of the UCCJEA home-state rule: an Ohio court has jurisdiction to make an initial child custody determination only if Ohio is the child's home state on the date of commencement or was within six months before,…

Official Supreme Court of Ohio uniform domestic relations form for a shared parenting plan, whose instructions require the Parenting Time Schedule to be attached and refer parents to the court's Planning for Parenting…

Official Supreme Court of Ohio uniform domestic relations form for a parenting plan where one parent is the residential parent, whose instructions require the Parenting Time Schedule to be attached and refer parents to…

No party to a custody matter in which the court appointed a licensed health care or behavioral health practitioner to examine, evaluate or make a recommendation may file a licensing-board complaint against the…

Text of Pennsylvania's UCCJEA initial-jurisdiction rule: a court may make an initial custody determination only if Pennsylvania is the child's home state on the commencement date or was within six months before and a…

Subject to the confidentiality rules of Chapter 53, each party's first pleading or attached affidavit must state under oath the child's present address, where the child has lived in the last five years and with whom,…

Rule text: the court may on motion appoint an attorney for a child who is the subject of the action, may apportion the cost, and the child's attorney represents the child's legal interest as any other client, with the…

Rule text: a party proposing a change of residence that significantly impairs another party's custodial rights must notify every person with custodial rights and provide a counter-affidavit, by certified mail no later…

Married persons are liable for each other's support according to ability, and parents are liable for unemancipated children 18 OR YOUNGER.

Support is set by the STATEWIDE GUIDELINE adopted by the Supreme Court by general rule, based on reasonable needs and the obligor's ability to pay, with a rebuttable presumption that the guideline amount is correct.

The custody chapter's defined terms, including abuse, legal custody, physical custody in each of its forms, and relocation.

The types of custody the court may award and the requirement that an award be in the child's best interest, together with the safety conditions the court may impose and the requirement to delineate the terms.

Who may seek ANY form of custody: a parent, a person in loco parentis, a grandparent not in loco parentis who meets the listed conditions, and the others the section names.

Texas text, added in 2021, requiring the court, where the possessory conservator lives not more than 50 miles from the child's primary residence, to alter the standard possession order to the expanded times the section…

Texas text allowing modification of a conservatorship or possession order if modification is in the child's best interest and the circumstances of the child, a conservator or another affected party have materially and…

Texas text stating that the best interest of the child is always the court's primary consideration in determining conservatorship and possession of and access to the child, with the rebuttable presumption in favor of a…

Texas text allowing referral of a suit affecting the parent-child relationship to arbitration on written agreement, and to mediation, and going on to state when a mediated settlement agreement is binding and the…

Texas text stating that where a written agreed parenting plan is filed the court may appoint joint managing conservators only if the plan designates the conservator with the exclusive right to designate the child's…

The factors for ordering joint managing conservatorship and the requirement to designate which conservator has the exclusive right to determine the child's PRIMARY RESIDENCE.

Texas text setting the holiday possession terms that apply regardless of distance and supersede conflicting weekend or Thursday periods, alternating Christmas, Thanksgiving and the other holidays the section lists…

Texas text requiring the court, on a conservator's election, to alter the standard possession order to the alternative beginning and ending times the section lists, such as school dismissal and school resumption, unless…

Texas definitions for subchapter K, including dispute resolution process, high-conflict case, and parenting plan, which the section defines as the provisions of a final court order that set out rights and duties of a…

Texas text requiring a person who files, within one year of the order or the mediated or collaborative settlement agreement it rests on, to modify who has the exclusive right to designate the child's primary residence,…

Virginia text on juvenile and domestic relations district court dispositions in custody, visitation and support cases, including the requirement that parties to a contested custody, visitation or support petition show…

Pendente lite the circuit court may compel spousal maintenance and health coverage, order payment of joint debts, award money to enable a spouse to carry on the suit, provide for custody and maintenance of the children,…

Defines joint custody as joint legal custody, joint physical custody or any combination the court finds in the child's best interest, and defines sole custody and person with a legitimate interest.

Custody and visitation, including support and maintenance of the children, must be adjudicated promptly and ahead of other issues in either circuit or district court, with pendente lite relief available under § 20-103…

There is a rebuttable presumption that the § 20-108.2 guideline amount is correct, and rebutting it requires written findings in the order identifying the statutory deviation factors relied on.

Sets the rebuttable-presumption schedule of basic child support obligations by combined monthly gross income and number of children, plus the sole, split and shared custody formulas in subsection G, health care…

Best interests, including for pendente lite orders under § 20-103, turn on ten factors: the child's age and physical and mental condition with due regard to changing developmental needs;

Virginia UCCJEA rule stating when a Virginia court has jurisdiction to make an initial custody determination, principally home-state jurisdiction on the date of filing or within six months before.

Virginia relocation rule: every custody or visitation order must require thirty days' advance written notice to the court and the other party of any intended relocation or change of address, unless the court orders…

Virginia modification statute: the court may revise a decree concerning the care, custody and maintenance of children as the circumstances of the parents and the benefit of the children require, intentional withholding…