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Creating a Parenting Plan in Florida
Creating a parenting plan in Florida can feel overwhelming because you are trying to make decisions that will affect everyday family life long after the divorce is finished.
Where will the children be during the week? What happens on holidays? Who handles transportation? What if one parent lives far away? How will you communicate about school, healthcare and activities?
A good parenting plan turns those decisions into a clear written structure that both parents can understand and follow.
This guide focuses on the practical side of creating a Florida parenting plan. If you first want to understand what a parenting plan is and how it fits into a divorce, read our Florida Parenting Plan Explained guide.
Start With the Schedule Your Family Actually Lives
One of the biggest mistakes parents can make is creating a parenting schedule that looks good on paper but does not work in real life.
Before deciding how time will be divided, think about your family’s normal routine.
- Where do the children attend school?
- What are each parent’s work hours?
- How far apart do the parents live?
- Who normally handles school transportation?
- Are there daycare or after-school arrangements?
- Do the children participate in sports or other activities?
- Are either parent’s work hours different on weekends?
The goal is not to create the parenting schedule that sounds the most impressive. The goal is to create one your family can realistically follow.
What Should a Florida Parenting Plan Address?
A parenting plan can address several parts of life after divorce, including:
- Regular weekday and weekend time-sharing
- Holidays
- School breaks and summer vacations
- Transportation and exchanges
- Parental responsibilities and decision-making
- Communication between the parents
- Communication between each parent and the children
- Long-distance arrangements when necessary
- Other details that apply to your family’s circumstances
The more clearly these practical issues are addressed, the less room there is for future confusion about what the parents intended.
Building a Realistic Time-Sharing Schedule
Time-sharing is often the part parents spend the most time discussing.
There is no single schedule that fits every Florida family. Parents may choose very different arrangements depending on their circumstances.
Week-On / Week-Off
In a week-on/week-off schedule, the children generally spend one week with one parent and the next week with the other.
This type of schedule may be easier when parents live relatively close to each other and transportation to school and activities remains practical from both homes.
2-2-5-5 Schedule
A 2-2-5-5 arrangement gives each parent recurring days during the week and then alternates longer five-day periods.
Some families like the predictability of knowing that certain weekdays consistently belong to the same parent.
Weekdays With One Parent and Weekends With the Other
Other families create schedules where one parent has most school nights and the other parent has regular weekends or extended weekends.
This may fit some work schedules, transportation arrangements or long-distance situations better than frequent exchanges.
A Custom Parenting Schedule
Parents who agree are not necessarily limited to one of the commonly discussed schedules.
Shift work, travel, unusual school schedules or other circumstances may require a different arrangement. The schedule should reflect what the parents have actually decided will work for their family.
Be Specific About Exchanges
“We’ll meet somewhere on Friday” might work while everyone is getting along, but it does not provide much guidance if there is a disagreement later.
When creating the parenting schedule, think through questions such as:
- What time does each parent’s time begin?
- Where will exchanges happen?
- Who is responsible for picking up the children?
- Does the schedule change when school is not in session?
- What happens when a holiday conflicts with the normal schedule?
Clear details can reduce arguments over logistics later.
Plan Holidays Before They Become a Problem
Holidays are one of the easiest areas to overlook when parents are focused on the regular weekly schedule.
A parenting plan may need to address holidays such as:
- Thanksgiving
- Winter or Christmas break
- Spring break
- Mother’s Day and Father’s Day
- Birthdays
- Other holidays that matter to your family
Parents sometimes alternate holidays by year, divide school breaks, or create another arrangement that fits their traditions.
The important part is making the arrangement clear enough that both parents know what happens when the holiday arrives.
Don’t Forget Summer Vacation and School Breaks
The normal school-year schedule may not make sense during summer.
Parents may choose longer blocks of time during summer vacation, establish vacation periods for each parent, or use a completely different summer schedule.
School calendars change every year, so it can also help to think about how the plan identifies the beginning and end of school breaks rather than relying only on specific calendar dates.
Creating a Long-Distance Parenting Plan
A parent does not have to live nearby for a parenting plan to work.
When parents live far apart, frequent weekday exchanges may be unrealistic. A long-distance parenting plan may instead use longer periods of time.
For example, a long-distance plan may address:
- School-year time with one parent
- Extended summer time with the other parent
- Winter and spring breaks
- Holiday rotations
- Transportation and airfare
- Where exchanges occur
- Telephone or video communication
Travel details become especially important when the parents live in different parts of Florida, different states or different countries.
Think About Your Children’s Ages and Routines
A schedule that works well for a teenager may not be practical for a toddler.
Children’s routines can change significantly as they grow. School, sports, activities, jobs, driving and social schedules may eventually affect how practical a parenting arrangement feels.
When parents agree, they can consider the children’s current routines when deciding what schedule they want reflected in their parenting plan.
Decide How Important Parenting Decisions Will Be Handled
A parenting plan is not only about where the children sleep.
Parents also need to address responsibility for important matters involving their children, which may include:
- School and education
- Healthcare
- Activities
- Other major child-related decisions
As non-attorney document preparers, we do not tell parents how these responsibilities should be divided. Parents who agree provide the decisions they have made, and those decisions are used when preparing their documents.
Create Clear Communication Expectations
Parenting continues after the marriage ends, which means parents often still need a way to exchange information about their children.
Depending on the family’s circumstances, communication may happen through:
- Text messages
- Telephone calls
- Co-parenting applications
- Other methods the parents agree to use
The parenting plan may also address communication between a child and the parent they are not currently staying with, including reasonable phone or video contact.
How Does the Parenting Schedule Affect Child Support?
The parenting plan and child support are separate parts of the divorce paperwork, but the two are connected.
The number of overnights the children spend with each parent is information that can affect the Florida child-support calculation.
That is one reason it is helpful to have the time-sharing schedule worked out before the child-support documents are finalized.
For a deeper explanation, read our Florida Parenting Plan and Child Support Guide.
What If You and the Other Parent Agree?
If both parents agree on the parenting schedule and the other issues involved in the divorce, their decisions can be incorporated into the appropriate documents.
Parents using our mutual-agreement divorce process have options, including a no-court-hearing option for qualifying cases as well as a traditional filing option.
Learn About Mutual Agreement Divorce With Children →
What If You Cannot Agree on the Parenting Plan?
You do not have to already agree on a parenting plan for the divorce itself to move forward.
If the parents fundamentally disagree about time-sharing, parental responsibility or other parenting issues, those issues may need to be addressed through mediation or the court process.
If your spouse will not cooperate but you know where they can be served, learn about Divorce With Children by Summons.
Should You Put Future Changes Into the Parenting Plan?
It makes sense to think about predictable changes while creating the plan, but no parenting plan can anticipate everything that may happen years into the future.
Children grow, work schedules change and families move.
Once a parenting plan becomes part of a court order, changing it later can involve legal requirements beyond simply deciding informally to use a different schedule.
If you already have an existing court-ordered parenting plan and need advice about changing it, you should consult with a Florida family-law attorney.
What About Relocation?
Relocation can have a major effect on an existing time-sharing schedule.
If relocation is already an issue in an existing case or parenting order, Florida has specific legal requirements that may apply. Someone considering a move that could affect an existing parenting arrangement should obtain legal advice before taking action.
A Practical Parenting Plan Is Better Than a Perfect-Sounding One
The parenting plan your family can actually follow is more useful than one that looks perfectly balanced but creates problems every week.
Before finalizing your decisions, ask yourselves:
- Can we realistically follow this schedule?
- Are the exchange times clear?
- Have we addressed holidays?
- Does the schedule work with school?
- Have we planned for summer?
- Does transportation make sense?
- Have we considered what happens when one parent lives far away?
- Do we understand how many overnights each parent will have?
If the answer to those questions is yes, you are much closer to giving us the information needed to prepare your parenting documents.
We Can Prepare the Parenting Plan You Have Agreed On
Divorce in Florida Online has prepared Florida divorce documents for more than 15 years.
We help collect the information needed to prepare parenting plans and other divorce documents based on the decisions the parents provide.
We are non-attorney document preparers. We cannot tell either parent what parenting schedule they should choose, determine their legal rights or decide what would happen if the parents went to court.
But when you have made your decisions, we can help turn those decisions into the documents required for your divorce process.
No office visit is needed.
Tell Us About Your Situation
Maybe you already have the entire schedule worked out. Maybe you have the regular schedule but still need to decide holidays. Maybe you agree on parenting but still have questions about child support or the rest of the divorce process.
Tell us a little about what’s happening. We’ll review your answers and help determine which of our document-preparation processes may fit your situation.
Tell Us About Your SituationFrequently Asked Questions About Creating a Florida Parenting Plan
Do we have to use a standard parenting schedule?
No single parenting schedule works for every family. Parents who agree can provide the schedule they have chosen based on their circumstances, subject to the requirements applicable to their case.
Can we use a week-on/week-off schedule?
Parents may choose a week-on/week-off arrangement when it fits their circumstances. Distance between homes, school transportation and the children’s routines are practical issues worth considering.
Can we create a long-distance parenting plan?
Yes. A long-distance arrangement may use longer blocks of time during summers and school breaks rather than frequent weekly exchanges.
Should holidays be written into the parenting plan?
A clear holiday schedule can reduce uncertainty about where the children will be when holidays and school breaks interrupt the normal weekly schedule.
Does the parenting schedule affect child support?
It can. The number of overnights the children spend with each parent is information used in Florida child-support calculations.
Can you tell us which parenting schedule we should choose?
No. Divorce in Florida Online is a non-attorney document preparation service. We can prepare documents based on the parenting decisions you provide, but we cannot advise either parent what parenting arrangement they should choose.
What if we cannot agree?
If the parents cannot reach an agreement, unresolved parenting issues may need to be addressed through mediation or the court process. The divorce can still move forward through the appropriate procedural path.
Watch: Creating a Parenting Plan in Florida
Legal Disclaimer
Disclaimer: The information on this website is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. Divorce in Florida Online is not a law firm, and no attorney-client relationship is created by the use of this website or its content. We do not provide legal advice or legal representation. Laws and procedures vary by case and may change over time. For legal advice regarding your individual circumstances, you should consult with a qualified, licensed attorney.
