Parenting plans are some of the most important documents of all in divorces between Minnesota couples who have young children. While some people may tend to gloss over them, only using boilerplate language, parenting plans should really be something that people instead focus a lot of time on.
A well-planned parenting plan that is thorough and detailed can provide multiple benefits to the parents as well as their children. It can provide a blueprint that clearly outlines the responsibilities of each one as well as how future issues may be resolved. This can help parents be able to solve any problems that may arise without needing to head back to court.
A plan that is detailed can help parents understand about how such things as holidays and other celebrations will be handled. When a plan is thorough, it also lets people in the courts and schools know that both parents are serious about the business of working together to raise their children.
Family law attorneys will tell their clients that a sound parenting plan needs to address a few key items. Legal custody, which is usually shared, deals with certain decisions about aspects of a child’s life such as education and religion. The physical custody aspect will deal with what parent the child lives most of the time with and what visitation rights the noncustodial parent will have. Contingencies such as a relocation by one parent to another state should be dealt with as well. Every plan must be in the best interests of the child. That is the main consideration for family law courts, and it should also be the primary concern of the parents.