Checklist · Family Law

Building a Parenting Plan and Child Support Order: A Practical Checklist

28 U.S.C. § 1738

Type: Checklist
Jurisdiction: National
Date: 2025-02-23
Topic: Family Law

A drafting checklist for the two documents that will govern a family for the next decade, sequenced so the decisions that foreclose later options happen first. Phases one through four are the intake work: screening for domestic violence and substance abuse with a structured tool rather than an open question, resolving jurisdiction under the UCCJEA before anything else, establishing parentage where it is not presumed, and obtaining temporary orders whose practical effect on the final outcome clients consistently underestimate. Phases five through eleven build the parenting plan: assembling the caretaking record that proves the case, drafting a regular schedule specific enough to enforce, allocating holidays and school breaks and summer, allocating decision-making with a tie-breaker, specifying communication and records access, addressing relocation before it happens, and building in dispute resolution short of returning to court. Phases twelve through seventeen build the support order: determining income including the self-employment and variable compensation problems, running the guideline calculation, allocating health care and childcare and uninsured expenses with a submission deadline, addressing special expenses and life insurance security, drafting the tax provisions including Form 8332, and installing the enforcement machinery. Phase eighteen is the final review.

Building a Parenting Plan and Child Support Order: A Practical Checklist

Family Law > Custody and Support | Published 23 February 2025 - Updated 5 July 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

Two documents will govern this family for the next decade, and their specificity predicts future litigation better than any other variable. A plan that says "reasonable and liberal parenting time" produces years of conflict. A plan that says "pickup at 6:00 p.m. Friday at the school, return at 6:00 p.m. Sunday to the mother's residence" does not. Every ambiguity left in the document is a future motion.

Keywords: DV screening, UCCJEA, parentage, temporary orders, caretaking record, schedule specificity, holiday rotation, decision-making, relocation notice, income determination, guideline calculation, uninsured medical, Form 8332, income withholding

Work this in order. The doctrinal treatment is in Child Custody and Support: A Comprehensive Guide to Parenting Plans, Guidelines, Modification, and Enforcement. The narrative overview is The Best Interests Standard.

Our running family. Priya Rourke (fictional) and Adam Rourke (fictional), children aged 7 and 11. Priya has been the primary caretaker; Adam travels two weeks a month and earns salary plus commissions plus restricted stock. Priya has a job offer 900 miles away.

Phase 1 — Intake and screening

[ ] Screen for domestic violence using a structured tool, not an open question. Coercive control rarely appears in police reports and clients rarely volunteer it.
[ ] Screen for substance abuse, mental health issues, and child abuse or neglect allegations in either direction.
[ ] Determine whether any protective order exists or should be sought.
[ ] Determine whether mediation is appropriate — most states restrict or prohibit it where there is a power imbalance from abuse.
[ ] Identify the children's current arrangement since separation, and how it arose.
[ ] Identify each parent's work schedule, travel requirements, and availability.
[ ] Identify the children's schools, activities, medical providers, and special needs.
[ ] Identify any prior orders in this or another case.
[ ] Instruct the client, at the first meeting, to preserve everything and to write nothing they would not want read aloud in court.
[ ] Instruct the client that social media posts about the case, the other parent, or the children will be exhibits.

Why it matters, and the traps. The screening determines whether this is a scheduling problem two represented parents can solve, or a safety problem that needs a judge. Those are different cases and they should not be handled the same way.

Phase 2 — Jurisdiction

[ ] Determine the child's home state under UCCJEA § 201 — where the child lived with a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the proceeding, or since birth if under six months.
[ ] If another state issued a prior order, determine whether it retains exclusive continuing jurisdiction under § 202.
[ ] If seeking to modify another state's order, confirm the § 203 requirements are met.
[ ] Screen for temporary emergency jurisdiction under § 204 if the child is present and at risk — and understand it is temporary by design.
[ ] Screen for unjustifiable conduct under § 208 if a parent removed the child to create jurisdiction.
[ ] Confirm consistency with the PKPA, 28 U.S.C. § 1738A.
[ ] For any international element, analyze the Hague Abduction Convention and ICARA before filing anything.
[ ] File the required UCCJEA affidavit disclosing the child's residences for the past five years and any other proceedings.

Why it matters, and the traps. An order entered without jurisdiction is unenforceable. Litigating the merits before resolving jurisdiction risks the entire case, and the affidavit requirement is not a formality — an incomplete one conceals the very facts the Act exists to surface.

Phase 3 — Parentage

[ ] Confirm parentage is established for each child by marriage presumption, acknowledgment, adjudication, adoption, or the assisted reproduction provisions.
[ ] For an acknowledgment of paternity, note the short rescission window — 60 days or the date of a proceeding, whichever is earlier — and that thereafter it may be challenged only for fraud, duress, or material mistake within a limited time.
[ ] Determine whether genetic testing is available or is barred by the state's protection of an established parent-child relationship.
[ ] For a de facto or psychological parent claim, assemble the clear and convincing evidence the Uniform Parentage Act (2017) § 609 requires: residence with the child, consistent caretaking, full parental responsibilities without expectation of compensation, holding out, a bonded and dependent relationship, and the consent and support of another parent.
[ ] For assisted reproduction or surrogacy, confirm the consents and any agreement satisfy the state's requirements.

Phase 4 — Temporary orders

[ ] Move for a temporary order promptly. The status quo it establishes will heavily influence the final outcome through the continuity and stability factors.
[ ] Address temporary parenting time with specificity — a vague temporary order produces months of conflict and a poor record.
[ ] Address temporary support, and note that the obligation accrues from the order and cannot be retroactively reduced.
[ ] Address exclusive use of the residence if appropriate.
[ ] Address status quo injunctions — no relocation of the children, no disposition of assets, no changes to insurance.
[ ] Address school enrollment so it is not unilaterally changed.
[ ] Consider an agreed temporary order, which avoids an early adversarial hearing and preserves the parties' ability to settle.

Why it matters, and the traps. Clients consistently underestimate this. A parent who agrees to a temporary arrangement giving the other parent primary care, intending to revisit it, has frequently decided the case — because eighteen months later the court will be reluctant to disrupt a functioning arrangement.

Phase 5 — Assemble the caretaking record

[ ] Obtain school records: enrollment, attendance, emergency contacts, conference attendance, and communications with teachers.
[ ] Obtain medical and dental records showing who scheduled and attended appointments.
[ ] Obtain extracurricular records: registrations, payments, and attendance.
[ ] Compile a calendar of the actual division of caretaking for the past one to two years.
[ ] Compile the communication record between the parents — texts, emails, and the co-parenting app log.
[ ] Identify collateral witnesses who have observed the caretaking: teachers, coaches, pediatricians, neighbors, and childcare providers.
[ ] Obtain work schedules and travel records for both parents.
[ ] Photograph and document the home environment for both parents.
[ ] Identify anything unfavorable in the client's own record and address it in the plan rather than waiting for it to surface.

Why it matters, and the traps. The caretaking history is the most predictive factor in most courtrooms, and it is proved by records, not testimony. Two parents will both testify that they did everything. The school's emergency contact list, the pediatrician's chart, and the practice sign-in sheet will not.

Phase 6 — Draft the regular schedule

[ ] Specify days and times, not concepts. "Alternating weekends" is not a schedule; "Friday 6:00 p.m. through Sunday 6:00 p.m., on weekends beginning the first Friday of the month" is.
[ ] Specify the exchange location and who transports in each direction.
[ ] Address midweek time and whether it is overnight.
[ ] Address school-year versus non-school-year schedules if they differ.
[ ] Address each child separately if a different schedule serves a younger and an older child.
[ ] Count the overnights — they determine the support calculation in most states and the difference of a single overnight can cross a threshold.
[ ] Address what happens when a scheduled day falls on a school holiday or closure.
[ ] Address make-up time for missed parenting time, with a deadline for exercising it.
[ ] Address the child's illness — who cares for a sick child during scheduled time, and whether the schedule changes.
[ ] Build the schedule around the children's activities and the parents' actual availability, not around a template.

Phase 7 — Holidays, breaks, and summer

[ ] List every holiday the family observes and allocate each, with an alternating rotation by year.
[ ] Specify holiday start and end times — "Thanksgiving" is not a period.
[ ] State expressly whether the holiday schedule overrides the regular schedule (it should).
[ ] Address three-day weekends attached to holidays.
[ ] Address winter break, including whether it splits at a specified date or alternates in full.
[ ] Address spring break.
[ ] Address the children's birthdays and each parent's birthday.
[ ] Address Mother's Day and Father's Day, which should go to the respective parent regardless of the regular schedule.
[ ] Address religious observances specific to the family.
[ ] Address summer: whether the regular schedule continues, or a different schedule applies; how many weeks each parent may designate; the deadline for designation (with a default if missed); and whether designated weeks override the other parent's regular time.
[ ] Address vacation travel: notice required, itinerary and contact information, whether out-of-state or international travel requires consent, and passport custody.

Why it matters, and the traps. The summer designation deadline with a default is the single most useful provision in a parenting plan. Without it, every March produces a negotiation and every June produces a motion.

Phase 8 — Decision-making

[ ] Allocate legal custody — joint or sole — and say what it means operationally.
[ ] Allocate by category where useful: education, non-emergency health care, religious upbringing, extracurricular activities, and mental health treatment.
[ ] Specify a tie-breaker for joint decision-making: a designated parent for a category, a mediator, a parenting coordinator, or a court application.
[ ] Specify a consultation requirement — how much notice, by what method, and how long the other parent has to respond before the decision may be made.
[ ] Specify emergency decision authority for the parent with the child at the time.
[ ] Specify that day-to-day decisions belong to the parent exercising parenting time, which prevents an enormous amount of conflict.
[ ] Address school selection and what happens if the parents live in different districts.
[ ] Address therapy for the children — who may initiate it, who selects the provider, and whether both parents participate.
[ ] Address medication decisions, which are a recurring flashpoint.

Phase 9 — Communication and information

[ ] Specify the method of communication between parents — a co-parenting app is now standard, and the log is court-accessible.
[ ] Specify expected response times for routine and urgent matters.
[ ] Specify a rule against communicating through the children.
[ ] Specify the child's contact with the other parent during parenting time: frequency, method, and that it will not be monitored or obstructed.
[ ] Specify that both parents are on all school, medical, and activity contact lists and have independent access to records.
[ ] Specify notice of school events and that both parents may attend regardless of whose time it is.
[ ] Specify notice of medical appointments and illness.
[ ] Specify address and phone number updates within a stated period.
[ ] Specify a non-disparagement provision, and understand it is hard to enforce but useful to have.
[ ] Address new partners: introduction timing and overnight rules, if the parties want them.

Phase 10 — Relocation and future changes

[ ] Include a relocation notice provision: the period (commonly 60 days), the required content (new address, date, reason, and a proposed revised schedule), and the method of delivery.
[ ] Specify the distance that triggers the notice requirement.
[ ] Specify the objection procedure and deadline.
[ ] Consider agreeing in advance on the standard that will apply, where state law permits.
[ ] Include a step-up schedule for young children that increases parenting time at specified ages, so the plan does not require modification as the children grow.
[ ] Include a review provision at defined intervals or at defined life events.
[ ] Address the children's changing preferences as they reach adolescence.
[ ] Address what happens if a parent's work schedule changes materially.

Phase 11 — Dispute resolution

[ ] Require mediation or a parenting coordinator before either parent may file a motion, except in an emergency.
[ ] Specify who the neutral is, or how one is selected.
[ ] Allocate the cost.
[ ] Specify the scope of the parenting coordinator's authority — recommending, or deciding subject to review.
[ ] Include a right of first refusal if the parties want one, with a duration threshold (four hours, overnight) and a notice mechanism.
[ ] Include a fee-shifting provision for a party who unreasonably refuses to comply, where state law permits.
[ ] Address exchanges in a high-conflict case: a neutral location, a supervised exchange center, or curbside exchanges without contact.

Phase 12 — Determine income

[ ] Obtain three to five years of tax returns, W-2s, and 1099s for both parents.
[ ] Obtain recent pay stubs showing year-to-date figures.
[ ] For self-employment, obtain business returns, profit and loss statements, general ledgers, and bank statements — and analyze add-backs: depreciation and other non-cash deductions, personal expenses run through the business, excessive retained earnings, payments to family members, and perquisites.
[ ] Average variable compensation — bonuses, commissions, overtime — over two to five years, or provide for a percentage order applying a supplemental rate to amounts above base.
[ ] Address equity compensation expressly: whether restricted stock is income at grant or vest, how options are treated, and how to avoid double counting where equity was also divided as property.
[ ] Include in-kind benefits that reduce living expenses: employer housing, a company vehicle, meal allowances.
[ ] Include investment, rental, trust, and retirement income.
[ ] Address Social Security derivative benefits paid for the child, which credit against the obligation in most states.
[ ] Consider imputation only where supported by a finding of voluntary unemployment or underemployment, and build the record the federal regulation requires — assets, residence, employment and earnings history, job skills, education, literacy, age, health, employment barriers, record of seeking work, local job market, and prevailing earnings. 45 C.F.R. § 302.56.
[ ] Retain a forensic accountant where self-employment or closely held business income is material.

Why it matters, and the traps. Adam's income requires all of this: base salary, commission averaging, restricted stock treatment, and whether the travel per diem counts. Getting it wrong sets a number that governs for years and is difficult to modify.

Phase 13 — Run the guideline calculation

[ ] Identify the state's model — income shares, percentage of obligor income, or Melson.
[ ] Enter income for both parents as determined in Phase 12.
[ ] Enter the number of overnights and confirm which threshold applies.
[ ] Enter health insurance premiums attributable to the children only — not the parent's own coverage.
[ ] Enter work-related childcare.
[ ] Enter other support obligations for children of other relationships.
[ ] Run the calculation and document the inputs.
[ ] Compare against alternative overnight allocations to understand the financial effect — and be candid with the client that a schedule should be built around the children rather than around a threshold.
[ ] If a deviation is sought, identify the statutory ground and prepare the written findings: the guideline amount, the reason for the deviation, and how it serves the child's best interests.
[ ] For high combined income above the guideline schedule, determine whether the state extrapolates or applies a needs-based analysis.
[ ] Attach the guideline worksheet to the order.

Phase 14 — Health care and childcare

[ ] Specify who provides health insurance for the children and the cost allocation.
[ ] Specify what happens if coverage becomes unavailable or unaffordable.
[ ] Specify allocation of uninsured medical expenses — typically pro rata by income, sometimes above an annual threshold.
[ ] Specify a claim submission deadline — the party incurring the expense must provide documentation within a stated period (30 to 60 days) and the other must reimburse within a stated period. This provision prevents more disputes than any other in the support order.
[ ] Specify documentation required: the bill, the explanation of benefits, and proof of payment.
[ ] Address orthodontia, therapy, and elective procedures — whether prior agreement is required.
[ ] Address mental health treatment costs and consent.
[ ] Specify childcare: who selects, who pays, and how changes are handled.
[ ] Address summer camp and school-break care.

Phase 15 — Special expenses and security

[ ] Address extracurricular activities: who decides, who pays, whether prior agreement is required above a threshold, and attendance by the non-scheduled parent.
[ ] Address private school tuition and who decides.
[ ] Address college — whether the state permits post-majority educational support, and whether the parties will agree to contribute; if so, specify the cap (frequently the in-state public university cost), the conditions, and how it interacts with financial aid and 529 accounts.
[ ] Address 529 plans: ownership, contributions, and who controls distributions.
[ ] Address travel costs for parenting time, particularly in a long-distance arrangement.
[ ] Require life insurance securing the support obligation: the amount, the owner, the beneficiary (a trustee for minor children rather than the child directly), the duration, and an annual proof of coverage obligation.
[ ] Consider disability insurance where the obligation is substantial.
[ ] Address a cost-of-living or step adjustment where the state permits it.

Phase 16 — Tax provisions

[ ] Allocate the dependency exemption / child tax credit, and require execution of Form 8332 if released — a decree alone is generally insufficient.
[ ] Specify when Form 8332 must be delivered each year and what happens if it is not.
[ ] Note that head of household status and the earned income credit remain with the custodial parent regardless of the dependency release and cannot be allocated.
[ ] Condition the release on the obligor being current on support, if the parties want that.
[ ] For any modification of a pre-2019 order including spousal support, address the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act treatment expressly — modification with an election applies the new rules, and the choice should be deliberate.
[ ] Address the child and dependent care credit.
[ ] Address allocation of any advance credit payments.
[ ] Address 529 account ownership and its financial aid consequences.

Phase 17 — Enforcement provisions

[ ] Include an immediate income withholding order, 42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1), and specify the payment method and the state disbursement unit.
[ ] Specify the due date and the payment frequency, and align it with the obligor's pay cycle.
[ ] Specify interest on arrears if the state provides for it.
[ ] Specify the notice required for a change of employment or address.
[ ] Include a provision that a party who unreasonably fails to comply pays the other's attorney's fees, where state law permits.
[ ] Include make-up parenting time as a remedy for interference.
[ ] Specify that the plan may be registered and enforced in another state under the UCCJEA and UIFSA.
[ ] Address contempt and the remedies available.
[ ] Include an acknowledgment that arrears cannot be retroactively modified and that a parent whose income changes must file promptly.

Phase 18 — Final review

[ ] Read the plan as a stranger enforcing it — could a police officer, a school principal, or a judge apply it without asking a question?
[ ] Confirm every date, time, and location is specified.
[ ] Confirm every deadline has a default if missed.
[ ] Confirm the overnight count matches the schedule and the guideline worksheet.
[ ] Confirm the guideline worksheet is attached and the inputs are accurate.
[ ] Confirm any deviation findings are stated in the order.
[ ] Confirm the health care and uninsured expense provisions have a submission deadline.
[ ] Confirm Form 8332 obligations are stated with a delivery deadline.
[ ] Confirm life insurance obligations include a proof requirement.
[ ] Confirm the relocation provision states the notice period, content, and objection procedure.
[ ] Confirm the dispute resolution provision precedes any right to file.
[ ] Have the client walk through a typical month and a holiday season against the plan before signing.
[ ] Provide the client a plain-language summary and a calendar for the first year.

Worked example — the Rourke plan

Phase 1. Screening reveals no abuse or substance issues. This is a scheduling problem, and it should settle.

Phase 2. Both parents and the children have lived in the state for nine years. Home state jurisdiction, no competing order.

Phase 4. An agreed temporary order continues the existing arrangement — children with Priya during the school week, with Adam on alternating weekends and during his non-travel weeks — with a status quo injunction prohibiting relocation of the children pending resolution. That injunction is the reason Priya's job offer becomes a negotiation rather than a fait accompli.

Phase 5. The caretaking record is one-sided and both parties know it: Priya is the emergency contact, attends the conferences, and manages the medical care. Adam's travel schedule is documented. This is not a case about who is the better parent; it is a case about how to preserve Adam's relationship across 900 miles.

Phases 6–7. The parties negotiate a long-distance plan conditioned on the relocation: Adam receives eight consecutive weeks in summer, all of winter break in odd years and spring break in even years, one long weekend per month with Priya paying half the travel cost, and — because Adam already travels two weeks a month — a provision that he may exercise up to four additional days per month in the children's city on 14 days' notice, with Priya making the children available. That last provision is worth more to Adam than any holiday allocation, and it exists because his work pattern made it feasible.

Phase 8. Joint legal custody. Education decisions to Priya as the parent in the children's community, with a consultation requirement. Medical decisions joint, with the treating physician as the tie-breaker for a disputed treatment recommendation.

Phase 12. Adam's income: base salary plus a three-year commission average plus restricted stock treated as income at vest, with a percentage order applying to commissions above the averaged base. The forensic accountant's work here changes the support figure by a material amount.

Phase 15. Travel costs allocated 60/40 to Priya, reflecting that the relocation is her choice and the salary increase is hers. Life insurance of $500,000 on each parent, payable to a trustee for the children, with annual proof.

What made this settle. Not the law — the analysis was genuinely close. It settled because a specific alternative plan existed, because Adam's actual travel pattern made monthly contact feasible, and because both parents were told honestly that a trial would cost more than the travel budget for five years and would produce an outcome neither could predict.

Building a Parenting Plan and Child Support Order: A Practical Checklist

Phase 1 — Intake and screening

Phase 2 — Jurisdiction

Phase 3 — Parentage

Phase 4 — Temporary orders

Phase 5 — Assemble the caretaking record

Phase 6 — Draft the regular schedule

Phase 7 — Holidays, breaks, and summer

Phase 8 — Decision-making

Phase 9 — Communication and information

Phase 10 — Relocation and future changes

Phase 11 — Dispute resolution

Phase 12 — Determine income

Phase 13 — Run the guideline calculation

Phase 14 — Health care and childcare

Phase 15 — Special expenses and security

Phase 16 — Tax provisions

Phase 17 — Enforcement provisions

Phase 18 — Final review

Worked example — the Rourke plan

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