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Parenting Plan Drafting

A parenting plan drafted from the terms both parents agree in mediation, with each night of the year assigned by a stated rule and the overnights counted for child support.

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Nine screens, session notes through the court packet ↓
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The problem

Agreed in the room, re-typed for a week, reopened before anyone signs

The mediator’s notes hold the agreement as prose: a two-two-three rotation in the school year, the big holidays alternating, summer split by weeks. Someone then re-types each term into the state’s form and builds the year with two highlighters on a printed calendar.

Holiday rules collide with the regular schedule and with school breaks, and each collision moves nights. Counted with highlighters, the total is often off by a few, and in a shared case a few nights change who pays support and how much. Loose wording about phone contact passes in the room and comes back as a dispute or a rejected order.

The draft reaches the parents a week or two after the last session. By then a parent who agreed in the room has had time to change their mind.

Built forFamily law mediatorsFamily law attorneysParalegalsManaging partners

The Problem Today

Parents agree in mediation, then someone re-types the plan into the state form and counts each night on a printed calendar.

672,502
divorces recorded in 2023; each with children needs a plan published
5–10 h
of attorney drafting for one agreed parenting plan our estimate

On paper today

  • Notes
  • Holidays
  • Overnights
  • State form
  • Holidays collide with breaksEaster inside spring break moves nights no one planned
  • Vague words become disputesLoose phone-contact wording comes back from the court

The Solution

  1. Terms from the session notesEach agreed term numbered and tied to its line in the notes
  2. Each night assignedSchedule, holidays, breaks and summer, in the agreed order
  3. Overnights countedBoth parents over the shared threshold, so the shared worksheet applies
  4. The state form, signedEach clause cites its term; the attorney approves it

Built-in controls

  • Only terms both parents agreed enter the plan
  • Income and support figures stay with the lawyer
  • Each night shows the rule that decided it

What You Get

Parents leave the last session with a signed plan and a support figure built on the real count.

  • The year, before they signEach night and each holiday on one calendar
  • Change a term, see the effectA swap recolors the year and updates the worksheet
  • Open issues with optionsEach option with its effect on overnights
From session notes to signed plan

Nine screens that take agreed terms to a court-ready parenting plan

Nine features of a mediated plan, in the order the work runs, each with the person who uses it.

  1. 01Agreed terms

    Agreed terms drawn from the session notes, each cited to its line

    How it works

    • Session 3: 46 lines read, 6 agreed terms found, T26 to T31
    • Each term shows its session and note line, and both parents’ agreement
    • A preference or an open question goes to the issues list instead

    Family law mediatorHas the agreement written down before the parents leave the session, with no week lost turning notes into terms.

  2. 02Holidays and breaks

    Holidays and breaks layered over the regular schedule in an agreed order

    How it works

    • 14 holidays and special days, 3 school breaks and the summer split, each with its agreed rule
    • School dates read from the district’s published calendars: 41 closed days
    • Rule order: holidays, then school breaks, summer weeks and the regular schedule
    • Easter inside spring break is settled by that order, and the father keeps 6 nights

    Family law mediatorSees a clash like Easter inside spring break settled by an order both parents agreed, long before anyone argues over that weekend.

  3. 03The year

    The whole year on one calendar, each night colored by its parent

    How it works

    • Twelve month grids, blue for the mother’s nights and orange for the father’s
    • 365 of 365 assigned, with each month’s count beside its name
    • Click a night to see the rule, the term and what it overrode

    ParentsSee the year, holidays and summer included, before they sign, rather than reading a schedule clause and guessing what it means for spring.

  4. 04Change a term

    Change one term and watch the year, overnights and support move

    How it works

    • A swap agreed in session 3, Thanksgiving to the father in odd years, waits in one panel
    • Applying it recolors 4 nights at Thanksgiving
    • Overnights go from 186 and 179 to 182 and 183
    • The support line moves from $268 to $224 a month

    Family law mediatorAnswers a parent who asks what a swap costs in support, at the table, with the new figure on the screen.

  5. 05Overnights and support

    Overnights counted by month and by rule, then sent to the worksheet

    How it works

    • Nights by rule: regular 2-2-3, holidays, school breaks and summer weeks
    • Tests the shared threshold: both parents over 25%, over 91 nights
    • Sends the counts to the shared custody worksheet; income and the table amount are the attorney’s
    • On the figures entered, the father pays the mother $224 a month

    ParalegalNo more counting overnights on a printed calendar with two highlighters, and no recount each time a holiday moves.

  6. 06Exchanges

    Each handover of the year listed with its date, place and reason

    How it works

    • 125 exchanges in the year, 103 at school drop-off and 22 at the library, each with date, place and reason
    • School-day exchanges at drop-off, with no face-to-face handover
    • On weekends, breaks and summer, exchanges at a public library at 6:00 pm
    • A typical two weeks drawn as a strip

    ParentsKnow where and when the children change homes for the whole year, and who picks up, before the plan takes effect.

  7. 07Issues for mediation

    Open issues drafted as options, each with its effect on overnights

    How it works

    • Options drafted from each parent’s own lines in the notes
    • Option A at 10:00 am on December 25, option B at 2:00 pm
    • Each shows its effect: overnights no change, support no change
    • The mediator records the parents’ choice; the drafter picks nothing

    Family law mediatorCloses the last open issue in the same session with written choices, instead of promising a redraft and losing a week.

  8. 08State form

    The state form drafted clause by clause, each cited to its term

    How it works

    • 22 pages in 12 sections, from parties and children to signatures
    • 47 clauses from 31 terms, and no clause without a term
    • The provisions check passes 7 of 7, with 12 of 12 required sections
    • Loose phone-contact wording became a 7:30 pm video call

    Supervising attorneyReviews a draft where each clause traces back to an agreed term, with vague wording caught before a judge reads it.

  9. 09Review and signatures

    A party review that tracks each reader before court-ready approval

    How it works

    • Both parents and both review attorneys at 22 of 22 pages; neither review attorney objects
    • The court packet: plan, calendar, holiday table, support worksheet and class certificates
    • Court-ready approval waits until both parents have signed

    Supervising attorneyApproves as court-ready only a plan the attorney did not mediate and both parents signed, so the order is not sent back over a wrong count.

A Thanksgiving swap worth $44 a month in support, caught before signing

What the drafting caught on one case before either parent signed.

A swap that moves support

Giving the father Thanksgiving in odd years moved 4 nights, and the support he pays fell from $268 to $224 a month.

Easter inside spring break

Two rules claimed the same two nights. The agreed order gives the holiday first claim, so the mother has Easter weekend and the father keeps 6 nights of his break.

Two loose phrases rewritten

Reasonable phone contact became a 7:30 pm video call. Liberal time on birthdays became a 4:00 to 7:00 pm visit for the other parent.

A wish kept out of the plan

The mother would like a morning exchange so the children are home for lunch. With no agreement behind it, the wish stays out of the terms and goes to the issues list.

Beside the calendar

Around the parenting plan: the caseload, each night’s rule and the audit

A mediator’s caseload, a layer switched off, a single night, a single clause, the log and the practice’s rules.

The mediator’s caseloadNine plans in progress, each with its children and its next step, from a session still to come to a draft out for review.
The year without the rotationSwitch off the regular 2-2-3 layer and only holidays, breaks, summer weeks and birthdays stay lit.
Why one night is hersEach night opens to the rule and term behind it. Easter weekend, term T13, takes this night from spring break, with pickup at the library at 6:00 pm.
From clause to note lineClick a clause’s term and the session notes open at its source. Thanksgiving, T31, is line 42 of session 3, with both parents marked as agreeing.
Who changed and who agreedRecorded terms, agreements, agent steps and reviews, newest first, from the first reading of the school calendars to the Christmas choice.
The practice’s own rulesState forms and their required sections, holiday templates, the rule order, how a night is counted, flagged words, roles and retention.

Five answers that rest with the parents, the mediator and the attorney

The year and the form are drafted for them; these five are answered by a person.

Which terms are agreedRecorded only when both parents said yes in the room.
Which option settles an open issueThe parents choose from drafted options, and the mediator records it.
Income and the guideline amountThe worksheet takes the counts; the attorney enters income and the table amount.
A clash the rule order does not settleThe calendar step asks the mediator rather than handing the night to either parent.
Court-ready approvalA supervising attorney who did not mediate the case approves the plan. The mediator cannot approve filing, and the paralegal cannot change a term.

Seven agents read, build, count and draft; only the parents agree a term

Each one reads, builds, counts or drafts one part of the plan, and stops where a parent or a lawyer must answer.

Terms recorder

Turns the session notes into numbered terms, each cited to its note line and marked agreed, proposed or open.

  • Never records a term both parents did not say yes to
School calendar reader

Reads the district’s calendars and places breaks and no-school days.

  • Never guesses a date the calendar does not state
Calendar builder

Applies the regular schedule and each layer to each night of the year in the agreed rule order.

  • Never settles a clash the rule order does not cover; it asks
Overnight counter

Counts nights per parent by month and by rule, tests the shared threshold and sends the counts to the worksheet.

  • Never enters income or the guideline table figure
Form drafter

Writes the plan into the state’s form, each clause cited to its term.

  • Never adds a provision nobody agreed
Provisions checker

Checks the required sections, conflicts between clauses and vague words.

  • Never approves a plan
Options drafter

Drafts two or three alternatives for each open issue, each with its effect on overnights and support.

  • Never picks one

Questions on parenting plans, overnights and the state form

What is parenting plan drafting?

Parenting plan drafting turns the terms parents agree into the document a judge signs. Here, agents record each agreed term from the mediator’s notes, build the year night by night, count the overnights and write the parenting plan into the state’s form, each clause cited to its term.

What should be in a parenting plan?

A complete plan covers legal custody and decisions, the residential schedule, holidays, summer and school breaks, transportation and exchanges, communication, relocation and dispute resolution. The provisions checker confirms each required section of the state’s form is present and flags loose words such as reasonable or liberal.

How are parenting time overnights counted?

A night belongs to the parent the children sleep with, counted on the night that starts on each date. Each night carries the rule and the term that decided it, and a changed term recounts the year at once.

How does shared custody child support use the count?

When each parent has over a quarter of the year’s overnights, the shared worksheet applies, and each parent’s share is weighed against the other’s time, so a few nights can move the monthly figure. Only the counts are sent; the attorney enters the incomes and the guideline amount.

Can it handle a mediated parenting plan with an issue still open?

Yes. Each open issue is listed with two or three drafted options, each with its effect on overnights and support. The parents choose, the mediator records it, and signatures wait until no issue is open.

Who sees the case, and how long is it kept?

Parents see and sign only their own case. Children’s details are held to names, birth dates and school. The case is kept for seven years after it closes, and no part of it goes into training a model.

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