During every family court case that involves child custody (legal decision-making and/or parenting time), Arizona law requires each parent to submit a proposed parenting plan.
If the parents cannot agree about everything that goes into a parenting plan, the family court can adopt either parent's parenting plan or create its own. Most commonly, at least in Maricopa County, judges use a very basic, boilerplate parenting plan that can be really insufficient and lead to modification/enforcement litigation.
What is a parenting plan?
A parenting plan is more than a schedule of parenting time, it should contains detailed framework that controls how you and the other parent will raise your children. This will define each parent's rights and responsibilities for parenting time, legal decision-making, travel with the children, etc.
Once adopted by the court, it becomes a legally enforceable court order. That sounds pretty straightforward. But here’s what many parents don’t realize:
The court will enforce what’s written—not what you intended.
That’s why thoughtful, strategic drafting matters.
Arizona's requirements for parenting plans
Pursuant to A.R.S. § 25-403.02, every parenting plan is required to have:
- A designation of the legal decision-making as joint or sole as defined in section 25-401.
- A description of each parent's rights and responsibilities for the personal care of the child and for decisions in areas such as education, health care and religious training.
- A practical schedule of parenting time for the child, including holidays and school vacations.
- A procedure for the exchanges of the child, including location and responsibility for transportation. The parenting plan must specify when the exchange is required to take place at a safe exchange location pursuant to section 25-403.10.
- A procedure by which proposed changes, relocation of where a child resides with either parent pursuant to section 25-408, disputes and alleged breaches may be mediated or resolved, which may include the use of conciliation services or private counseling.
- A procedure for periodic review of the plan's terms by the parents.
- A procedure for parents to communicate with each other about the child, including methods and frequency.
- A statement that each party has read, understands and will abide by the notification requirements of section 25-403.05, subsection B.
That is what the statute says, so what does it all mean. Basically, parenting plans must clearly address:
Legal Decision-Making
Your parenting plan should define legal decision-making (sometimes referred to as legal custody) rights for each parent. This should include:
- Who makes major decisions about education, healthcare, and religion
- Whether you want to define legal decision-making to include any additional categories of decisions
- Whether decision-making is joint or sole or some combination of both (like one parent having final say authority)
Legal decision-making is always modifiable in the future if your parenting plan isn't working. But there are time restrictions imposed by A.R.S. § 25-411 and nobody should want to return to family court. So it is really important to have a parenting plan that works for your family.
Legal decision-making is very commonly misunderstood. Parents are often disappointed when they realize how limited it is in application. So we always encourage you to take advantage of a free consultation with a child custody lawyer early in the process to ensure that you fully understand this component of your parenting plan.
Parenting Time
For parenting time, your parenting plan should contain a detailed schedule for:
- Regular parenting time
- Holidays and school breaks
- Summer vacation
- Terms for right of first refusal, if you want one
- Any non-standard rules that you want to impose about what either parent can do during their parenting time (screen time, chores, children's diet, etc)
- Details for parenting time exchanges: where and how they occur, transportation responsibilities for each parent
Schedules should be clear and unambiguous to avoid future conflict. Keep in mind that parents are always free to deviate from their parenting plan by mutual agreement. This means you and your coparent can flexibly change the schedule as needed, or make any other changes as long as you both agree. The parenting plan just provides legally enforceable schedules in the event that the parents are unable to cooperate.
Communication
Your parenting plan should define:
- How parents communicate with each other
- How the children communicate with each parent
For both of these you will want to include any restrictions to the manner, frequency, duration/length of communication. Disputes commonly arise from inadequate communication provisions when a parent serially texts or calls the other parent or the child during the other parent's parenting time. It can be really disruptive. Conversely, if communication rights are not properly defined, the other parent may not allow the children to contact you during their parenting time. This can be really problematic, especially when children are older as courts often prefer parenting time schedules that require the children to be away from each parent for longer periods of time.
For most effective coparenting, we encourage clients to include provisions that require substantive response to coparenting communications within a prescribed period of time. This ensures that your coparent cannot just ignore you indefinitely.
Dispute resolution
Parenting plans may require the parties to attempt mediation or another alternative dispute resolution process before returning to family court to resolve disputes regarding changes to or violations of the parenting plan. Recent changes to Arizona law have slightly changed how these provisions are enforced. Before the changes, parents could be required to attempt mediation prior to filing a petition to modify or enforce. This meant that petitions were sometimes delayed by weeks or months while the parties arranged mediation. Now parents can file their petitions but the family court can, in its discretion, order the parties to attempt mediation while the petition is pending.
Why parenting plans can fail
Many parenting plans look fine on paper but fail in practice. This is because parents often create their parenting plans anticipating cooperation and reasonableness from their coparent. Unfortunately, it doesn't always go that way. Experienced family lawyers know that the real test of a parenting plan's effectiveness is how it helps parents avoid future conflict.
That is where our robust child custody litigation experience gives our clients an advantage. It allows us to:
- Identify where disputes are likely to arise
- Draft provisions that reduce ambiguity
- Structure plans that are clear and enforceable
- Anticipate how a judge will interpret and apply your agreement
If one parent violates a parenting plan, the other parent may be able to file a petition to enforce and the family court can impose serious sanctions against the violating parent. Even if you successfully defend yourself against an enforcement action, it is additional litigation and time, money, and stress that goes with that.
When to consider hiring a lawyer
Many future enforcement issues can be avoided when the parenting plan is professionally prepared by an experienced child custody lawyer. The standard parenting plan courts use is very basic and really fails to meet the needs of many modern families.
Not everyone will need to hire a family lawyer, but because our initial consultations are free, we think every parent should start with one. Some warning signs that you may need to hire a lawyer include:
- You anticipate conflict with the other parent
- You want equal parenting time but expect resistance
- There are relocation or travel issues
- One parent has a demanding or irregular schedule
- You want a plan that minimizes future litigation
A thoughtful, well-drafted parenting plan will go far beyond the statutory requirements. It will help define rights and responsibilities for all of the other practical situations that arise when raising children with another parent subject to a child custody order.
We lean on our extensive experience litigating modification and enforcement of parenting plans to help clients create plans that are:
- Clear and easy to understand
- Enforceable
- Adaptable
- Strategically aligned with your goals
So if you need a parenting plan or need to make changes to your existing plan, contact us today to schedule a free initial consultation. Our experienced team will take the time to understand your family's unique needs to ensure that a parenting plan works for you.
