Maryland Family Lawyers for Parenting Plans During Divorce

A parenting plan is simply an agreement you create with your spouse or partner about how you plan to co-parent your children after the divorce or separation.  

A parenting plan is very specific and amounts to basically setting up a complete schedule for you and your children.  

The plan should be very comprehensive, especially if the children are smaller, and include: 

• Schooling; 
• Medical issues; 
• Extracurricular activities such as sports, and other club endeavors; and 
• Potential college or career training.  

All these things need to be thought of and discussed in detail. In addition, a parenting plan governs specific parenting responsibilities, such as: 

• How visitation will be handled; 
• Overnights; or 
• Who takes a child to the doctor. 

Just about every situation that can (and will!) possibly arise while raising your child will be accounted for in your parenting plan. 

Family lawyers often negotiate parenting plans as part of regular divorce proceedings if there are underage children involved. Such plans can be included into a separation of property agreement, or simply be part of the divorce decree. 

A parenting agreement can help you focus on the best interests of the child – which isn’t always easy when you’re in the middle of a divorce or separation battle. 

As for the plan itself, the biggest problem people have is that they focus on the immediate here now about what is happening in their children’s lives. A good parenting plan must have room to grow because inevitably children’s activities and lives will change.  

In the end, a parenting plan is only as good as how well the parties abide by it.  

In other words, if you have a very contentious relationship with the other spouse, then it’s natural to hope that hard feelings or issues can be put aside to properly parent. However, that is not always the case – even if you both previously agreed to the plan. 

If you find yourself in a situation where your soon-to-be ex-spouse is being completely unreasonable and trying to take advantage, then you need a lawyer who is extremely skilled at fine-tuning the details.  

Additionally, your family lawyer should know when to be aggressive, and when to simply facilitate a resolution. 

You can always take advantage of JC Law’s free initial consultation to see how one of our family attorneys might handle your case – and whether they think the parenting plan will be a good call.