Parenting Plans in Kansas (Custody Agreements)
A parenting plan explains how parents will share the responsibilities of parenting apart. It is ultimately meant to help parents avoid returning to court.
In Kansas, parents are required to provide the court with a parenting plan.
If parents agree, they can turn in one plan with the terms they've negotiated. They can develop a plan one-on-one, with the help of a lawyer or through an alternative dispute resolution method like mediation.
If parents disagree, they each hand in a proposal for the judge to consider when making the final custody order.
Parenting plan templates
Parents are free to choose their own template.
One option is the parenting plan template from the Kansas Judicial Council.
Another is the Custody X Change parenting plan template. It offers more than 140 categorized provisions and the option to create your own provisions.
What to cover in a parenting plan
Kansas requires that parents address the following in their parenting plans.
Case information
Cover basic information about yourself, the other parent and the child you share:
- Case number
- Parents' names
- Parents' home addresses
- Child's name and age
- Child's current address
If you have an agreed parenting plan, both you and the other parent must sign it in the presence of a notary.
Legal custody
Legal custody is the right to make decisions for your child.
Sole legal custody means one parent makes all major child-related decisions. The other parent can still make day-to-day decisions for the child when they're with the child. Also, they can access the child's medical and school records.
Joint legal custody means parents have equal say when making major child-related decisions. It is the most common legal custody arrangement.
If you choose joint legal custody, state what you'll do if you can't come to an agreement on an issue. You can go to a mediator, ask a family member or friend to act as a tiebreaker, or hire a professional like a parenting coordinator to make the decision.
Physical custody
There are three types of physical custody:
- Primary residential custody: The child primarily lives with one parent, and the other has visitation.
- Shared residential custody: The child lives with each parent for equal or nearly equal time.
- Divided placement: Each parent has primary residential custody of at least one child. Parents have regular visits with the kids who live with the other parent.
Detail when the child will be in the custody of each parent, including holidays and vacations, in a written parenting time schedule. You can add a visual calendar for easier comprehension.
Exchanges
Make a plan for transferring the child from one parent to the other. Will parents bring the child directly to one another's home? Will you exchange the child at a neutral location, like a supermarket parking lot?
Involvement in your child's extracurriculars
Include a provision laying out how you will keep both parents actively involved in the child's extracurriculars. For example, can both of you attend the same events?
Maintaining civility
For the benefit of your child, do what you can to get along. Specify ways to keep conflict to a minimum, like using a co-parenting app to communicate.
You may need to be especially detailed in this section if you're dealing with a high-conflict co-parent.
Modifying your plan
Your child's needs will change over time. Figure out how you will address necessary changes. You could set specific dates to review your plan or state you'll review it as issues arise.
While you can agree on small changes, like exchanging the child 10 minutes later than usual for a visit, major changes need to go through the court.
Some parents plan ahead for necessary schedule changes by creating a step-up parenting plan. These plans gradually increase parenting time for the nonprimary parent. Specify start and end dates for each schedule.
Other considerations
The more detailed your plan, the less likely it is that questions will arise. The following are just a few additional topics you can add.
- Transportation: Who can transport the child to and from visits? Who will pay transportation costs?
- Moving: By law, a residential parent must give at least 30 days notice before moving. Add additional parameters — for example, whether parents must keep the child in the same school district.
- Discipline: How will you deal with the child's misbehavior? If they lose privileges in one parent's home, will they lose them in the other's?
Help negotiating a parenting plan
If you aren't able to negotiate with the other parent on your own, mediation or conciliation can help. If you want to try one and you've already filed for custody, you'll need to file a motion for mediation or conciliation. Or a judge can order you to attend.
Both processes involve parents sitting down with a neutral professional who guides conversations in the hope of getting parents to agree on a parenting plan.
Mediation is confidential. If there's no agreement, none of what happened in mediation is shared with the court.
Conciliation is not confidential. If there's no agreement, the conciliator conducts a custody evaluation and prepares a report that includes parents' discussions.
If there's an agreement, the mediator or conciliator forwards a Memorandum of Understanding to the court with a parenting plan attached. The mediator, parents' lawyers or the parents themselves can ask the court to formalize the memo into a custody order.
The easiest way to make a parenting plan
When you're writing a parenting plan, it's critical you use airtight language that leaves no room for interpretation.
If you hire a lawyer, they'll write up the plan and ensure it meets the court's requirements.
If you write your own plan, use technology to take guesswork out of the equation. The parenting plan template in the Custody X Change online app walks you through each step.
The result is a professional document that demonstrates your competence as a parent from the first glance.
The easiest and most reliable way to make a parenting plan is with Custody X Change.