{"id":46810,"date":"2012-04-27T19:23:12","date_gmt":"2012-04-27T23:23:12","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-05-14T16:17:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T20:17:24","slug":"how-are-parenting-plans-decided","status":"publish","type":"publications-page","link":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided","title":{"rendered":"How are parenting plans decided?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Parents can try to agree on decision-making responsibility and parenting time by making a <strong>parenting plan<\/strong>. This plan may be called a <strong>parenting agreement<\/strong> or a <strong>separation agreement<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>A parent does not need a lawyer to make a parenting plan. But it is a good idea for each parent to get their own legal advice before signing one. Parents cannot get advice from the same lawyer.<\/p>\n<p>Parents who cannot agree on a parenting plan, <strong>must<\/strong> think about using <strong>alternative dispute resolution<\/strong> (ADR) or a family dispute resolution process to resolve their issues out of court if it&#8217;s suitable for their situation. ADR might not be an option in situations of domestic abuse or if there is a power imbalance.<\/p>\n<p>Parents can try to agree on a parenting plan:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>on their own,<\/li>\n<li>with the help of a lawyer, or<\/li>\n<li>with the help of a family law professional who works in ADR, such as a mediator, arbitrator, or collaborative family lawyer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Court<\/h2>\n<p>If parents cannot agree on a parenting plan, they can go to court to get a parenting order. Judges decide decision-making responsibility and parenting time using a legal test called the <strong>best interests of the child<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Judges usually assume it is better for a child to have a relationship with both parents. This does not mean equal parenting time.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the things judges look at are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the child&#8217;s physical, emotional, and psychological safety, security, and well-being<\/li>\n<li>the relationship between each parent and the child<\/li>\n<li>how long the child has lived in a stable situation<\/li>\n<li>each parent&#8217;s plan to care for and raise the child<\/li>\n<li>the child&#8217;s views and wishes, unless there&#8217;s no way to find out what they are<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Judges must also consider any family violence and its impact on a parent&#8217;s ability to care for a child. Family violence can be physical, sexual, psychological, or financial abuse.<\/p>\n<div class=\"box\">\n<h3>Assessments<\/h3>\n<p>Sometimes a judge wants an independent professional&#8217;s opinion about what is in the best interests of the child. This is called an <strong>assessment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>A judge may:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>order the parents to get a private assessment, or<\/li>\n<li>ask the Office of the Children&#8217;s Lawyer to prepare a report.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>The flowcharts in CLEO&#8217;s <strong>Steps in a Family Law Case<\/strong> can help parents understand and follow the court process. Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/familycourt.cleo.on.ca\/en\/about-flowcharts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">familycourt.cleo.on.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Parents can stop the court process at any time by making an agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-46810","publications-page","type-publications-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How are parenting plans decided? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How are parenting plans decided? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Parents can try to agree on decision-making responsibility and parenting time by making a parenting plan. This plan may be called a parenting agreement or a separation agreement. A parent does not need a lawyer to make a parenting plan. But it is a good idea for each parent to get their own legal advice before signing one.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-14T20:17:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided\",\"name\":\"How are parenting plans decided? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-27T23:23:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-14T20:17:24+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Publication pages\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"How are parenting plans decided?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/\",\"name\":\"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How are parenting plans decided? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How are parenting plans decided? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","og_description":"Parents can try to agree on decision-making responsibility and parenting time by making a parenting plan. This plan may be called a parenting agreement or a separation agreement. A parent does not need a lawyer to make a parenting plan. But it is a good idea for each parent to get their own legal advice before signing one.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided","og_site_name":"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","article_modified_time":"2025-05-14T20:17:24+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided","url":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided","name":"How are parenting plans decided? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-04-27T23:23:12+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-14T20:17:24+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-are-parenting-plans-decided#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Publication pages","item":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How are parenting plans decided?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/","name":"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications-page\/46810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications-page"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/publications-page"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications-page\/46810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61769,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications-page\/46810\/revisions\/61769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}