Understanding Parenting Plans in a Child Custody Case
Are you in a child custody case and you want to know what the purpose is to have a parenting plan? My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m an attorney with Wirth Law Office. I’ve been practicing family law for about seven years and I want to help you make law easy by just explaining a little bit about how a parenting plan plays into a child custody order.
These types of plans come into place if you’re operating under a joint custody agreement. What this means is you and the other parent have the same legal rights. A lot of times people hear joint custody and they think, okay, equal time. No, no, no, no. That’s joint physical custody, but a parenting plan can come in place even if you have joint legal custody, which is just that both sides have the same rights as the other one, even if one side is the primary physical custodian and has the children the majority of the time.
What Does a Joint Parenting Plan Cover?
A joint parenting plan is basically what governs how you’re supposed to co-parent with the other side. This does not mean that you have to confer with the co-parent about every little thing that goes into parenting while the children are with you. For example, a joint parenting plan will cover the big things. It’ll cover education, religious education, major medical, major dental, and major extracurricular activities.
The things that are going to impact the kids’ lives and impact both your and the other parent’s life. Those are what go into a joint parenting plan and you have to make those decisions together. Nobody can just fly off the handle and do something on their own. And if you do that, you could subject yourself to contempt of court or maybe even lose joint custody.
Get Help Navigating Your Child Custody Case
These things can get relatively hairy if you don’t know how to navigate them. If you have questions, please contact us at 918-879-1681. My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m with Wirth Law Office and I just want to help you make law easy. Thank you.
