Parenting Plan Checklist: 12 Sections to Review

A parenting plan checklist should expose missing decisions before they become recurring disputes. It is not a universal legal form. Courts and legislatures use different terminology and may require specific documents, disclosures, mediation, or approval.

Justice Canada's official Parenting Plan Tool covers decisions, parenting time, technology, information sharing, appointments, activities, travel, relocation, disputes, and later review. Its central point applies broadly: there is no one-size-fits-all plan, and the written terms should fit each child's circumstances.

Use the checklist below to prepare a draft, then compare it with the law, court forms, and existing orders that apply where you live.

1. Children and scope

• Identify every parent and child covered by the plan.
• State the effective date and whether the plan is temporary or long-term.
• Identify existing orders, safety terms, or agreements that remain controlling.
• Note whether different children need different schedules or provisions.

Avoid unnecessary sensitive details in a draft shared through an online tool. Add legally required identifying information only in the appropriate secure form.

2. Regular parenting schedule

• Assign every overnight, school day, and non-school day.
• State start and end times, not only “weekend” or “midweek.”
• Explain what happens on teacher-work days and unexpected closures.
• Name which schedule applies during summer.
• Define the first date or week of the rotation.

Place the proposed rotation on real dates with the matching generator, such as the 2-2-3 schedule, week-on, week-off schedule, or every-other-weekend schedule. Then use the parenting time calculator to count annual overnights and handoffs.

3. Holidays, birthdays, and vacations

• List holidays and precise exchange times.
• State whether holidays alternate by odd and even years.
• Say whether the holiday schedule overrides the regular schedule.
• Cover school breaks, birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and culturally important days.
• Set vacation length, selection deadlines, priority, notice, and itinerary requirements.

Check the result across at least two calendar years. A rule that sounds balanced may create an unintended long gap when a holiday attaches to regular time. Use the holiday custody schedule guide to compare methods.

4. Exchanges and transportation

• Specify the exchange location and exact time.
• Identify who picks up, drops off, or arranges transport.
• State how school or childcare exchanges work.
• Set expectations for lateness, delays, and missed transportation.
• Address belongings, medication, schoolwork, and equipment moving with the child.
• Include supervised or protected exchange terms exactly as ordered.

5. Major decisions and daily authority

• Allocate education decisions.
• Allocate non-emergency medical, dental, mental-health, and therapy decisions.
• Address religion, culture, language, and significant activities where applicable.
• Explain what “joint” decision-making requires in practice.
• Identify day-to-day and emergency authority.
• Add a deadlock process and a decision deadline.

Do not use labels alone. State who gathers information, how proposals are shared, how long the other parent has to respond, and what happens if agreement is not reached.

6. Parent communication

• Name the primary app, email address, or other written channel.
• Define routine, time-sensitive, urgent, and emergency communication.
• Set realistic response windows.
• State how changes and approvals become confirmed agreements.
• Keep the child out of adult messages and disputes.
• Set notification boundaries that still allow urgent child information through.

Use co-parenting communication apps to compare channels and message templates for factual requests.

7. Child-parent contact

• Address calls, video contact, messaging, frequency, and reasonable duration.
• State who initiates or provides the device for scheduled contact.
• Set age-appropriate privacy and supervision expectations.
• Avoid turning contact into monitoring of the other household.

8. School, health, and activities

• Identify school enrollment and school-boundary responsibilities.
• Give both eligible parents direct access to records and portals.
• Address routine appointments, emergency notice, medication, and insurance cards.
• Decide who schedules and transports to activities.
• Set approval rules for activities affecting both parents' time or money.

9. Travel, moves, and location information

• State domestic and international travel notice.
• Address passports, travel consent letters, itineraries, and emergency contacts.
• Define any geographic restrictions without contradicting local law or orders.
• Refer to the required relocation process rather than inventing a private substitute.
• Allocate additional travel costs where appropriate.

Travel and relocation laws vary sharply. Use the applicable government guidance and seek local advice before relying on a generic clause.

10. Expenses and reimbursements

• Identify separately shared categories.
• State the split for each category.
• Set advance-approval rules and spending thresholds.
• Define receipts, submission deadlines, and reimbursement deadlines.
• Explain insurance, refunds, subsidies, and tax-benefit treatment.
• Keep child support separate where required.

Justice Canada's official Parenting Plan Checklist notes that practical expense terms may overlap with financial issues but that its checklist does not determine child support. Use the shared-expense checklist for the operational details.

11. Safety and special circumstances

• Copy all protective, supervised-contact, substance-testing, or exchange restrictions accurately.
• Address allergies, medication, disabilities, and emergency protocols.
• Identify safe information-sharing and contact limits.
• Do not use mediation or direct negotiation where it is unsafe or prohibited.

General templates are not appropriate substitutes for safety planning. Get help from a qualified local professional or family-violence service.

12. Changes, disputes, and review

• Explain how temporary swaps are requested, accepted, and recorded.
• State whether a swap changes only named dates or the underlying rotation.
• Create a staged dispute process where appropriate.
• Choose a regular review date and developmental triggers.
• State that enforceable orders remain in effect until properly changed.
• Include signatures, witnesses, filing, or approval required locally.

Final clarity test

Give the draft to a neutral reader and ask whether they can determine:

1. where the child will be next Tuesday and on the next major holiday;
2. who handles the next routine medical appointment;
3. how a schedule change becomes final;
4. what happens after an unanswered activity request;
5. who transports the child and required belongings;
6. how a genuine disagreement moves toward resolution.

Revise every answer that depends on memory, goodwill, or “as agreed.” Then use the parenting plan generator to organize the clauses into a reviewable draft. Compare that draft with your jurisdiction's required forms before signing or filing it.