Co-Parenting Plans
The organization of cooperative parenting schedules after divorce.
What is a Co-parenting Plan?
A co-parenting plan is a written document outlining schedules, responsibilities and communication to help parents with raising their children in a fair and cooperative manner after separation or divorce.
A great co-parenting plan needs parents to set aside any bad feelings and ego and focus 100% on the wellbeing of the children.
Regardless of whether you are still friends with your ex, you can, if disciplined, lay the foundation for good co-parenting. The key is to decide you are not going to fight. Instead, focus on excellent outcomes for all parties.
Successful co-parenting for thousands of families
At Fairway, we are passionate about protecting children. We believe that children can thrive whether their parents are together or divorced.
Our mediators work closely with you and your spouse to ensure that you have a co-parenting plan that satisfies everyone.
We create comprehensive agreements that will provide you and your spouse with a roadmap for raising well-adjusted, confident children. We are committed to helping you and your children achieve a healthy happy future.
What to include in your co-parenting plan
A co-parenting plan can be either very detailed or vague. Most traditional separation agreements tend to set out general arrangements around joint custody, decision making, and residential care.
Many parents are deciding to place more attention and discussion around the details in their parenting plan to avoid any future conflict or confusion.
Whatever your needs our team will help you decide what to include in your co-parenting plan. Each family is different, and your parenting plan should reflect that.
Below there are some suggestions for things to consider when you make your parenting plan.
Rules about the parenting relationship
While you may be separated or divorced, if you’re a parent, you will still be in each other’s lives.
Boundaries will go a long way to help you maintain a healthy co-parenting relationship. Decide what responsibilities you have to each other. And what responsibilities you have to your children. Include this information in your plan, so everything is laid out.
How you will make decisions
When it comes to significant decisions who decides what happens? Who is responsible for choices about things like education, health, and religion?
What about the day-to-day decisions for the children? In most cases the parent with the children at the time is responsible. But there may be some reasons for different arrangements.
Schedules
Your plan should outline how much time children spend with each parent. You will want to include what happens for things like vacations, holidays, and special events such as birthdays.
Resolving conflicts
You should make it clear in your plan how you will handle disputes. Knowing what happens when you disagree with each other can help diffuse tense relationships.
What to avoid
- Using children to bargain
- Designing a co-parenting plan around what is best for the parents
- Turning it into a blame game
- Bad mouthing the other parent and making them look bad
Review your co-parenting plan
Once your co-parenting plan is complete, both parents should review it. Reviewing the plan makes sure nothing gets overlooked. And also that there is nothing either parent doesn’t agree with in it.
Life happens, and circumstances change. You should schedule a time to review your parenting plan regularly.
You should think about also including a section on how you will handle unexpected changes. There might be times when you will want to modify your parenting plan.