If you are parents who are not living together, are seeking separation, or going through a divorce, you may be looking for parenting plan examples.
A parenting plan outlines how parents who do not live together will make important decisions regarding the care of their children.
An Emotional Process
Dealing with custody issues can be emotionally draining, and parents want to protect their children during negotiations as much as possible. Your Michigan divorce attorney or family law attorney can provide advice on how to discuss the divorce with your children, and how to create a parenting plan that focuses on your children’s needs.
While custody seems to be simply a matter of where your children will live, there are many other factors that need to be agreed upon.
Although agreeing on a parenting plan arrangement might not come as easily as you would hope, the Law Office of Stephanie Krane-Boehmer can help you understand the child custody process and make it go a little more smoothly.
Parenting Plan Examples Online
A search for “parenting plan examples” can bring up many valuable results to help guide your decisions; however, a decision should never be made without an attorney. Make sure the results are relevant to the laws in your area and look carefully at the source. Good parenting plan examples should cover:
- Communication
What is the critical information you will need to communicate, how often and how (e.g., by email or face-to-face only). How do you communicate in an emergency? Are children allowed to communicate with you when they are with the other parent? Is a communication schedule needed? - Parenting time
Where will the children live? If you’re splitting time, how will it work, and what are the transportation arrangements? What about daycare / after school care and babysitting – are there any concerns, and who is responsible for the costs? - Extra-curricular activities
How will you manage the child’s social life (e.g., sports, school outings, summer camp, friends’ birthdays) – who is responsible for managing the activities and arranging payments? - Visits with extended family
Does your plan need to address visits with uncles/aunts/grandparents? - Vacations & Holidays
How will you arrange holiday time, especially traditional family holidays like Thanksgiving? - Notifications for Travel / Moving
Good parenting plan examples should include guidance on stipulations around travel, especially travel outside the country, or moving anywhere that will make it difficult for the other parent to visit. - Education
How will you make arrangements around choices of schools to attend? Who will receive school reports and notifications? Who attends school teacher conferences, who is informed of any issues at school, and who is allowed to take the child out of school? - Medical
Look for parenting plan examples that also detail medical needs, like who will be responsible for medical decisions/insurance and who will be responsible to make emergency medical decisions.
- Communication
Completing your Parenting Plan
While you may find good parenting plan examples online to help guide your decisions, it is recommended to either have a qualified family law attorney or mediator review your plan, or draft your final plan before submitting it to the court.
Family law attorneys have a lot of experience working on parenting plans and will be able to think of things you may not have found in the parenting plan examples you used.
Once your parenting plan is complete, it can be presented to your case manager, custody manager, or judge. If both parents agree on the plan, the judge can be asked to make it a court order as part of the settlement to ensure the parenting plan is legally enforceable.
Parenting Plan: The Best Interests of the Child
The Michigan Family Court system makes final custody decisions based on the best interests of the child.
A good parenting plan – especially one agreed on by both parents – can help the judge make determinations on what is best to take care of the child’s emotional, medical and educational needs.
Looking for a divorce attorney in Rochester Hills?
If you’re looking to create a parenting plan, you need a divorce attorney that you can trust and feel comfortable with. Contact the law office of Stephanie Krane-Boehmer in Rochester Hills Michigan for help with navigating divorce matters. Stephanie will support you through mediation, litigation, parenting arrangements, child support, and division of property.
We are located in Rochester Hills and serve Oakland, Macomb, Genesee, Lapeer Livingston, and Wayne Counties.
Keep in touch with Stephanie Krane-Boehmer on Facebook.