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Suite 1001
Seattle, WA 98101
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206.223.0840
Fax
206.260.1420
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Parenting Plans
The Parenting Plan Governs the Child’s Residential Schedule
The parenting plan is a blue-print for how the parties will raise the child from the effective date of the plan through high school. It includes details such as where the child will spend each day of Christmas vacation in any given year, how the child’s doctor will be selected, and the number of extra-curricular activities in which the child shall participate in any period of time.
The basic elements of a parenting plan are:
- Whether one of the parents has engaged in abuse, neglect, or otherwise inappropriate behavior;
- The residential schedule;
- The schedule for holidays, vacations, and special occasions;
- Which parent has authority for which major decisions;
- Relocation Act requirements; and Dispute Resolution.
The most common parenting plan establishes one parent, typically the mother, as the primary custodial parent. The child resides with her, unless specifically stated otherwise. The child will reside with the non-custodial parent, typically the father, every other weekend, half the holidays and vacations, and two – three weeks in the summer. Parties wishing to stretch the weekend a bit may define it as after school on Friday to before school on Monday.
To avoid conflict, it is probably best to have the parents exchange the child without seeing each other. Thus, during the school year, one parent will drive the child to school in the morning. The other parent will pick-up the child after school. During the summer, the drop-off and pick-up can be at daycare.
Another not-uncommon residential schedule is 50/50, or split custody – for example, one week at Mom’s, the next at Dad’s. Split custody works better in situations where the parties are able to set aside their differences and work together for the best interest of the child. It also works better where both parties live in the same neighborhood, so the children can walk or bike from one house to another to get their homework or whatever else they may have forgotten.
Once a parenting plan is entered, it is very difficult to modify. A court will not modify a parent plan unless it finds that 1) a substantial change, unanticipated at the time the plan was entered, has occurred in the circumstances of the non-moving party or the child, 2) a change in the parenting plan is in the child’s best interest, and 3) the risk of change is less than the benefits doing nothing.
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