Custody

A parenting plan is a written plan describing each parent’s rights and responsibilities.¹

As part of a custody case, you and the other parent may create a parenting plan that the judge will include as part of the court order. If you and the other parent cannot agree on the terms of the parenting plan, the judge will make one for you based on what s/he thinks is in the best interest of the child.²

A parenting plan must include all of the following:

• decision-making responsibilities for both routine day-to-day decisions and major decisions such as education, health care, and religion or spiritual development;
• information sharing about your child and access to your child by both parents, including telephone and email or other electronic access;
• the legal residence of your child for school attendance;
• where the child will live (residential responsibility), parenting time, and a parenting schedule that must include who will have the child on holidays, vacations, birthdays, weekends, weekdays, and summers;
• an arrangement for transportation and exchange of the child from one parent to the other, considering the safety of the parties;
• procedures for reviewing and adjusting the parenting plan; and
• methods for resolving disputes about the plan or the child.³

¹ N.D. Cent. Code § 14-09-00.1(3)
² N.D. Cent. Code § 14-09-30(1)
³ N.D. Cent. Code § 14-09-30(2)