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Parenting Plan and Visitation

The written schedule and decision-making rules for a child after separation - and the document courts increasingly require rather than invite.

Informational only - this is not legal advice. These definitions explain general legal vocabulary in plain English. They are not advice about your situation, reading them creates no attorney-client relationship, and the law differs from state to state and changes over time. For advice you can rely on, speak to a lawyer licensed in your state.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of law firms for this.

What it means

A parenting plan is the document that says where a child lives, when the child is with each parent, and who decides the things that have to be decided. Many states now require one in any case involving children, and where it is not required a court will usually adopt one anyway, because an order phrased as "reasonable visitation" tends to produce the disputes it was meant to avoid.

Plans separate two ideas that are easy to run together. Legal custody or decision-making is the authority to make major decisions - schooling, non-emergency medical care, religious upbringing - and is frequently shared even where the child lives mainly with one parent. Physical custody or parenting time is where the child actually is. A parent with little decision-making authority may still have substantial parenting time, and the reverse is equally possible.

A workable plan is specific about the things families actually argue over: the regular week, holidays and school breaks, birthdays, summer, transport and the handover point, notice for changes, how the parents communicate, how a dispute is resolved before anyone returns to court, and what happens when one parent travels. Vagueness is not flexibility; it is a disagreement postponed to a moment when neither parent can afford one.

The standard the court applies is the best interests of the child, a phrase every state uses and each defines in its own statute through a list of factors. It is worth being clear about what it excludes: it is not a measure of which parent is more deserving, and it is not a reward or a sanction for adult conduct. Conduct matters where it bears on the child. The child's own preference may be considered in most states, with the weight depending on age and maturity, and a judge decides that rather than the child.

Where this comes from

Custody and parenting time are governed by state statute, and every state applies a best-interests standard whose factors are enumerated in its own code. Which state may decide is uniform in a way the substance is not: the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, enacted in every state except Massachusetts, which retains its predecessor act, generally gives jurisdiction to the child's home state, and the federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1738A, requires states to give full faith and credit to custody determinations made consistently with it. International cases may engage the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, implemented in the United States by 22 U.S.C. § 9001 et seq. Any notice period, filing deadline or minimum period before a plan may be revisited is set by state statute or by the order itself and none is stated here.

When people hire a lawyer for this

The value of a lawyer here is mostly in the drafting rather than the fighting: most parenting plans are agreed, and the ones that come back to court are the ones that were vague about handovers, holidays, travel, or who decides when the parents cannot agree. Advice is worth taking where the parents live in different states or one intends to move, since the UCCJEA decides which state may rule and getting that wrong can undo an order; where there is any history of violence, substance misuse or a protective order; where a child has significant medical or educational needs that require a single decision-maker; where a parent works shifts, travels, or is deployed, because military parents have particular protections; and where one parent is being kept from a child, which is a matter to raise promptly rather than to document indefinitely.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

Find a lawyer for this in your state

Choose your state to see Child Custody law firms in the city where we list the most; your city may be under “other cities”, A to Z. A state marked “Family Law” has no Child Custody listing yet and opens the broader page.

Alabama (Birmingham)
+1 other city
- Montgomery
Alaska (Anchorage)
Arizona (Glendale)
+6 other cities
Arkansas (Little Rock)
California (Fremont)
+19 other cities
- Anaheim
- Chula Vista
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- Los Angeles
- Modesto
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- Oxnard
- Riverside
- Sacramento
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- San Jose
- and 7 more with fewer listed firms
Colorado (Colorado Springs)
+2 other cities
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Connecticut (Bridgeport)
Delaware (Wilmington)
District of Columbia (Washington)
Florida (Orlando)
+5 other cities
Georgia (Atlanta)
Hawaii (Honolulu)
Idaho (Boise)
Illinois (Chicago)
Indiana (Fort Wayne)
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- Indianapolis
Iowa (Des Moines)
Kansas (Kansas City)
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Kentucky (Lexington)
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Louisiana (Baton Rouge)
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Maine (Portland)
Maryland (Baltimore)
Massachusetts (Boston)
Michigan (Detroit)
Minnesota (Minneapolis)
+1 other city
- Saint Paul
Mississippi (Jackson)
Missouri (St. Louis)
+1 other city
- Kansas City
Montana (Billings, Family Law)
Nebraska (Lincoln)
+1 other city
- Omaha
Nevada (Henderson)
+3 other cities
New Hampshire (Manchester)
New Jersey (Jersey City)
+1 other city
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New Mexico (Albuquerque)
New York (Buffalo)
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North Carolina (Fayetteville)
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North Dakota (Fargo)
Ohio (Cincinnati)
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Oklahoma (Tulsa)
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Oregon (Portland)
Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
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Rhode Island (Providence)
South Carolina (Columbia)
South Dakota (Sioux Falls)
Tennessee (Nashville)
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- Memphis
Texas (Dallas)
+12 other cities
Utah (Salt Lake City)
Vermont (Burlington)
Virginia (Chesapeake)
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Washington (Spokane)
+2 other cities
- Seattle
- Tacoma
West Virginia (Charleston)
Wisconsin (Madison)
+1 other city
- Milwaukee
Wyoming (Cheyenne)

Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

AdoptionThe court order that makes a child legally the son or daughter of someone other than the birth parents - the kinds of adoption, whose consent is required, how the birth parents' rights end, the home study and the hearing, and what the order changes about inheritance, records and the child's name.
Annulment (Void and Voidable Marriage)A court judgment declaring that a marriage was never valid, as distinct from a divorce that ends a valid one - the difference between a void and a voidable marriage, the grounds each state recognizes, who may bring the case, and what an annulment does to property, support and children.
Child SupportMoney one parent pays the other toward a child's living costs, set in most cases by a state formula rather than by negotiation.
Common-Law MarriageA marriage formed without a license or ceremony by living together as spouses and holding yourselves out as married - which states still allow it, what has to be proved, why every state recognizes one validly formed elsewhere, and what it means for property, support and inheritance when the relationship ends.
Dividing Retirement Accounts in Divorce (QDRO)How pensions, 401(k) plans and IRAs are divided at divorce without tax or penalty - what a qualified domestic relations order is and why a divorce decree alone is not enough, the difference between a defined-benefit and a defined-contribution split, the plans that need a different order, and the mistakes that cost a former spouse the share the decree awarded.
Establishing PaternityThe legal step that makes a man a child's father in law - and signing the hospital form is one of two routes, not a formality.
Grandparent and Third-Party VisitationWhen a court can order that a child spend time with a grandparent, step-parent or other non-parent over a parent's objection - the constitutional limit set by the Supreme Court, the circumstances in which state statutes allow a petition, the special weight a fit parent's decision receives, and what a petitioner must prove.
Grounds for DivorceThe legal basis a divorce is granted on - and in every state today at least one basis requires proving no wrongdoing by anyone.
Guardian ad Litem and Custody EvaluatorThe two neutrals a court most often appoints in a contested custody case - what a guardian ad litem does and does not do, how it differs from a child's attorney and from a custody evaluator, who pays, what they may see, and how their reports are used at trial.
Guardianship of a MinorA court order giving an adult who is not the parent legal authority over a child's care, or over the child's property, without ending the parents' rights - how it differs from custody and adoption, who can be appointed, what the parents keep, and how it ends.
Legal and Physical CustodyTwo different things the word "custody" covers: who makes major decisions for a child, and where the child lives.
Legal SeparationA court status in which spouses live apart with binding orders on support, property and children, while remaining married.
Marital Property DivisionHow a court splits what a couple owns - and "equitable" means fair in that state's judgment, which is not the same as half.
Modifying a Custody or Support OrderChanging an existing family court order - which usually requires proving something has changed, and never happens by the parents' agreement alone.
Prenuptial AgreementA contract made before marriage about property and support - enforceable in every state, and set aside more often than most people expect.
Protective Order (Restraining Order)A court order telling one person to stop contacting or coming near another - enforceable by police, and valid across state lines.
Relocating With a ChildMoving a child away from the other parent - the family law dispute most likely to require the court's permission before the move, not after.
Spousal Support (Alimony)Payments from one former spouse to the other - discretionary in most states, and taxed differently for instruments made after 2018.
Termination of Parental RightsThe court order that permanently ends the legal relationship between a parent and child - the grounds a state must prove, the heightened standard of proof and right to counsel, the difference between voluntary relinquishment and an involuntary petition, and what the order does and does not end.

« All glossary terms

Part of the LawyerLand plain-English legal glossary. Definitions are written from primary sources - statutes and court rules - and each entry states the authority it rests on, or says plainly when the doctrine is state law with no national rule.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, civil legal aid programs provide free help with many of these problems: civil legal aid programs by state.

Related free reference tools: statute of limitations for a personal-injury claim, by state, quoted from each state's official text - part of LawyerLand's legal reference tools.