Form 12.995(a) is Florida's Parenting Plan, the Supreme Court approved family law form required in every Florida case that involves time-sharing with a minor child, whether the parents agree on everything or the court has to decide.
Quick Answer: A Parenting Plan is mandatory in any Florida case involving minor children, even an uncontested one. Form 12.995(a) covers who has parental responsibility (decision-making authority), a specific time-sharing schedule for each child, and practical provisions for transportation, communication, and dispute resolution. If parents agree, both sign it and a notary or deputy clerk witnesses the signatures; if they cannot agree, the court establishes a plan.
What Is Form 12.995(a)?
Form 12.995(a), Parenting Plan, is a Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form published by the Florida Courts. It is the document that translates a custody arrangement into specifics: which parent makes which decisions, exactly when the child is with each parent, and how the parents will handle the logistics of raising a child from two households.
Download the official Form 12.995(a) (PDF, Florida Courts)
Florida offers three versions of this form. Form 12.995(a) is the general Parenting Plan used in most cases. If a case involves supervised time-sharing, the Supervised/Safety-Focused Parenting Plan, Form 12.995(b), applies instead. If a case involves relocation of a parent under section 61.13001, Florida Statutes, the Relocation/Long Distance Parenting Plan, Form 12.995(c), applies. This guide covers the general form, 12.995(a).
The form should be typed or printed in black ink, and parents are expected to delete or strike through any terms or paragraphs that do not apply to their family. If a nonlawyer helps a parent fill out the Plan, that person must first provide a Disclosure from Nonlawyer, Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure Form 12.900(a), and must print their name, address, and telephone number on the last page of every form they help complete.
When a Parenting Plan Is Required
A Parenting Plan is required in all cases involving time-sharing with minor children, even when time-sharing is not in dispute. It is not optional paperwork reserved for contested custody fights; every Florida divorce, paternity action, or other family law case involving minor children needs one.
- The Parenting Plan must be developed and agreed to by the parents, then approved by the court
- If the parents cannot agree, or the court does not approve the plan they submitted, the court establishes a Parenting Plan itself, with or without parenting plan recommendations from a professional
- Either parent may file a proposed Parenting Plan at or before the final hearing if the parents have not reached agreement
- If no agreed plan is filed by the parties, the court will establish one
Both parents must give the child (or each child, if there is more than one) a consistent name or designation used throughout the Plan, and the form can be adapted: parties should delete or strike through terms that do not apply to their situation.
Parental Responsibility and Decision Making
Section IV of the Parenting Plan addresses parental responsibility, meaning who has authority to make major decisions for the child, separately from the physical time-sharing schedule. The form requires choosing one of three approaches:
- **Shared Parental Responsibility.** Both parents confer and jointly make all major decisions affecting the child's welfare, including education, healthcare, and other responsibilities unique to the family. Either parent may consent to mental health treatment for the child.
- **Shared Parental Responsibility with Decision-Making Authority.** Both parents confer and attempt to agree on major decisions; if they cannot agree, one designated parent has final decision-making authority, either generally or over specific categories.
- **Sole Parental Responsibility.** One parent makes major decisions for the child, generally used when shared responsibility would be detrimental to the child.
Major decisions typically include the child's education, healthcare, and other significant matters specific to the family. The Plan also addresses information sharing, meaning each parent's right to access the child's school and medical records regardless of which parent has decision-making authority, unless the court orders otherwise.
The Time-Sharing Schedule
Section VII, Time-Sharing Schedule, is where the Plan gets specific. A time-sharing schedule must be provided for both parents, not just a general statement that time-sharing will be "reasonable" or "as agreed."
The schedule addresses:
- **Weekday and weekend schedule.** The specific days and times each parent has the child, including which weekends (every, every other, or another specified pattern) and which weekdays
- **A different schedule for individual children.** Parents can complete a separate attachment if siblings need different schedules
- **Holiday schedule.** Whether the regular schedule continues through holidays, holidays are handled by agreement, or a specific holiday rotation applies, which takes priority over the regular weekday and weekend schedule when it applies
- **Summer and school break schedules,** addressed alongside the regular calendar
What Else the Parenting Plan Covers
Beyond parental responsibility and the time-sharing schedule, Form 12.995(a) works through a series of numbered sections that cover the practical mechanics of co-parenting. The form uses Florida's statutory term "time-sharing" throughout rather than "custody" or "visitation," which Florida law dropped in favor of language centered on parental responsibility and time-sharing.
Parents and jurisdiction. The Plan opens by naming each parent (using whatever name or designation the parents choose to use throughout the document) and confirming their addresses and contact information, with options to mark an address as unknown or confidential where a domestic violence order or other court order applies. The Jurisdiction section then confirms the child's home state and country of habitual residence for purposes of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, and international child abduction law, which matters if either parent later tries to relocate the child across state or national lines.
Information sharing and scheduling. Unless the court orders otherwise, both parents retain access to the child's school and medical information and records, separate from whichever parent holds decision-making authority. The Scheduling section covers how routine schedule requests and changes get communicated between the parents.
Transportation and exchange. This section specifies who is responsible for transporting the child at the start and end of each time-sharing period, and where exchanges take place.
Education. One parent's address is designated for school-boundary determination and registration purposes. The Plan can also add specific provisions for private schooling or home schooling if the parents have agreed to that.
Designation for other legal purposes. Florida law requires many state and federal forms to list a "majority time-sharing" parent even when the parents share time-sharing closely. This section makes clear that naming a parent for that limited purpose does not change either parent's actual rights or responsibilities under the rest of the Plan.
Communication. All communication about the child happens directly between the parents, not through the child as a messenger. The Plan lets parents specify how they will communicate (in person, phone, letter, email, or another method) and separately addresses the child's own contact with the other parent by phone or electronic communication, including whether that contact is unrestricted, limited to certain hours, or otherwise structured, and how any costs of electronic communication are handled.
Child care. The Plan can require each parent to offer the other the first opportunity to care for the child before using a third-party provider for an absence beyond a specified number of hours, require that all providers be mutually agreed upon, or leave the choice to whichever parent has the child at the time.
Changes, modifications, and relocation. Minor, temporary schedule changes can be handled informally between the parents, but if the parties disagree about a change, the existing Plan stays in effect until a court orders otherwise. Any substantial change to the Plan itself requires filing a supplemental petition for modification. Any relocation of the child must comply separately with section 61.13001, Florida Statutes, Florida's relocation statute.
Disputes and other provisions. The Plan encourages parents to resolve disagreements cooperatively, including through mediation, parenting coordinators, or parenting counselors, before going back to court. A final, open-ended "Other Provisions" section lets parents add anything specific to their family that the standard sections do not cover.
The form itself notes that this is a standard template, not an exhaustive list of every issue that could matter in a specific family's situation, and additional provisions can and often should be added.
The Best Interests of the Child Standard
Florida law requires that the Parenting Plan, and any time-sharing schedule within it, be built around the best interests of the child, evaluated under the factors in section 61.13(3), Florida Statutes. Those factors include, among others:
- Each parent's demonstrated capacity to facilitate a close relationship between the child and the other parent, and to be reasonable when changes are needed
- The division of parenting tasks and responsibilities before and during the litigation
- The length of time the child has lived in a stable environment and the desirability of maintaining that continuity
- The geographic viability of the proposed schedule, including school needs and travel time
- Each parent's moral fitness, and mental and physical health
- The child's reasonable preference, if the court finds the child mature enough to express one
- Each parent's capacity to protect the child from the litigation itself, including not discussing the case with the child or disparaging the other parent
- Evidence of domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse, abandonment, or neglect, whether or not a related case has been filed
- The developmental stage and needs of the child
If a case involves evidence of domestic violence or a need for supervised time-sharing, Florida's Supervised/Safety-Focused Parenting Plan, Form 12.995(b), is the appropriate form rather than the general 12.995(a).
Signing and Filing the Plan
- If the parents have reached an agreement, both must sign the Parenting Plan, with signatures witnessed by a notary public or a deputy clerk
- File the original with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the case was filed, and keep a copy for your own records
- If the parents have not reached an agreement, either parent may file a proposed Parenting Plan at or before the final hearing
- If no agreed Plan is filed, the court will establish one, with or without parenting plan recommendations
The Plan can also be designated as a final Parenting Plan, a temporary Parenting Plan, or a modification of a prior final Plan or order, which affects how and when it takes effect. At the top of the form, the parents (or the court) also indicate whether the Plan is being submitted by agreement of the parties, proposed by one parent, or established by the court, so it is clear from the document itself how the Plan came to be.
Florida Parenting Plan Templates and Samples
Florida does not publish a separate library of narrative sample plans with fictional answers filled in. The official Form 12.995(a) works as the parenting plan template every Florida filer completes: a structured document with numbered sections for parental responsibility, the time-sharing schedule, and the practical provisions described above. If you are searching for a custody agreement template Florida courts will actually accept, start from this form rather than a generic online template, since only the current Florida Supreme Court approved version can be filed with the clerk.
The same is true for a florida parenting plan sample built for parents who live far apart: Florida's version is Form 12.995(c), covered in the next section, not a separate narrative example. Download the current forms directly from the Florida Courts website rather than a saved copy from an earlier year.
Florida Parenting Plan Examples
Florida's three approved parenting plan forms function as the state's examples of what a complete plan covers. Form 12.995(a) is the standard, shared plan used in most cases, addressing parental responsibility and a regular time-sharing schedule. Form 12.995(b) is the safety-focused version, used when a parent believes the child cannot safely be alone with the other parent or when shared responsibility would be a detriment to the child. Form 12.995(c) is the long-distance version, used when a parent's or child's principal residence is moving more than 50 miles away. Each form adapts the same core sections, parental responsibility, time-sharing, transportation, and communication, to its situation rather than starting from a blank page.
Long-Distance and Relocation Parenting Plans in Florida
Florida separates two situations that both involve distance between parents. Form 12.995(c), the Relocation/Long Distance Parenting Plan, is for parents who already live far apart, or plan to, when the Parenting Plan is first created or modified. It builds a schedule around travel time, extended school-break visits, and how the parents split transportation costs.
A separate process applies when a parent wants to move after a Parenting Plan is already in place. Under section 61.13001, Florida Statutes, a parent relocating the child's principal residence more than 50 miles away generally needs the other parent's written consent or a court order permitting the move. This relocation statute governs the move itself; Form 12.995(c) governs the resulting time-sharing schedule once the parents' locations are set.
Modifying or Proposing a Parenting Plan in Florida
To change an existing Parenting Plan, a parent generally files a Supplemental Petition to Modify Parenting Plan/Time-Sharing with the circuit court that issued the original plan. Florida courts generally require the parent asking for the change to show a substantial, material, and unanticipated change in circumstances since the last order, and the court still applies the best interests of the child standard when deciding whether to approve a new plan.
A proposed Parenting Plan is what a parent files or exchanges with the other parent when they have not reached agreement, whether at the start of a case or during a later modification. Either parent may file one at or before the final hearing. A parent can also ask the court for a temporary Parenting Plan while a divorce or paternity case is pending, so a schedule is in place before the case reaches a final hearing.
What Florida Law Requires in a Parenting Plan
Section 61.13, Florida Statutes, is the core of Florida's family law parenting plan requirements. It requires a Parenting Plan in every case involving minor children, whether the case is a divorce, a paternity action between unmarried parents, or another family law matter, and whether the parents were married or never married. The plan must describe parental responsibility, meaning decision-making authority, and include a time-sharing schedule, the specific days and times each parent has the child.
Florida's guidelines use the statutory term time-sharing rather than custody or visitation throughout the standard, shared, safety-focused, and long-distance plans alike. There is no separate parenting plan track for unmarried parents: a paternity case establishing parental responsibility for a child born outside marriage follows the same Form 12.995 series and the same section 61.13(3) best-interests factors as a divorce case.
Is the Florida Parenting Plan Form Different From Recent Years?
The Florida Supreme Court periodically updates its approved family law forms, including the Form 12.995 series. A copy saved from 2020, 2021, or 2022 may not match the version currently required, and clerks can reject a filing made on an outdated form. Always use the current version posted on flcourts.gov rather than an older download. Filing with the correct, current form also matters for parents preparing their own child custody forms Florida courts require without a lawyer; Florida allows self-representation in family law cases statewide.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Assuming a Parenting Plan is only needed if custody is contested; it is required in every case involving minor children
- Leaving the time-sharing schedule vague ("reasonable time-sharing") instead of specifying actual days and times, as the form requires
- Confusing parental responsibility (decision-making) with time-sharing (the physical schedule); the Plan addresses both separately
- Skipping the holiday schedule section, which then defaults to the regular schedule unless the parties specify otherwise
- Filing an unsigned or unnotarized agreed Plan; both signatures and witnessing are required
- Using the general Form 12.995(a) in a case that actually involves supervised time-sharing or relocation, where 12.995(b) or 12.995(c) applies instead
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Florida Form 12.995(a)?
Form 12.995(a), Parenting Plan, is the Florida Supreme Court approved family law form that sets out how divorced or separated parents will share time with and make decisions for their minor children. It covers parental responsibility, a specific time-sharing schedule, and practical details like transportation, communication, and how disputes get resolved.
Is a Parenting Plan required in every Florida divorce with children?
Yes. A Parenting Plan is required in every Florida case involving time-sharing with minor children, even when the parents fully agree and time-sharing is not in dispute. If the parents cannot agree, or the court does not approve their proposed plan, the court will establish one.
What is the difference between parental responsibility and time-sharing?
Parental responsibility is about decision-making authority, who makes major decisions about the child's education, healthcare, and welfare. Time-sharing is the actual schedule of when the child is physically with each parent. Florida law separates the two, and a Parenting Plan addresses both.
What is shared parental responsibility?
Shared parental responsibility means both parents confer and jointly make major decisions affecting the child, such as decisions about education and healthcare. It is the default Florida law favors unless it would be detrimental to the child. The Parenting Plan can instead specify shared parental responsibility with one parent having ultimate decision-making authority over specific categories, or sole parental responsibility for one parent.
What if my case involves domestic violence or requires supervised time-sharing?
Form 12.995(a) is the general Parenting Plan. If the case involves supervised time-sharing, Florida provides a Supervised/Safety-Focused Parenting Plan, Form 12.995(b). If the case involves relocation of a parent under section 61.13001, Florida Statutes, Florida provides a Relocation/Long Distance Parenting Plan, Form 12.995(c).
Do both parents have to sign the Parenting Plan?
If the parents have reached an agreement, yes, both must sign, and their signatures must be witnessed by a notary public or a deputy clerk. If the parents cannot agree, either parent may file a proposed plan, and if no agreed plan is filed, the court establishes one.
Can Virdix help me prepare a Florida Parenting Plan?
Yes. Virdix walks you through the sections of Form 12.995(a), including parental responsibility, the time-sharing schedule, and the required practical provisions, and prepares the matching Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure forms from your answers. Virdix is a document preparation service, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice.
How does Florida determine child custody?
Florida courts decide parental responsibility and time-sharing based on the best interests of the child, using the factors listed in section 61.13(3), Florida Statutes. Those factors include each parent's demonstrated ability to facilitate a close relationship between the child and the other parent, the child's needs at each developmental stage, and each parent's history of involvement in raising the child. Parents can represent themselves in this process statewide; Florida does not require a lawyer to file for custody or a Parenting Plan.
How Virdix Helps
Virdix walks you through the Parenting Plan section by section, parental responsibility, the time-sharing schedule, and the required practical provisions, and prepares the matching Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure forms from your answers. Start free. Pay once, only when your documents are ready. See Divorce in Florida on Virdix for the full picture of what Virdix covers in Florida today.
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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Virdix is a document preparation service, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice. Forms, fees, and procedures can change; always confirm current information with the Florida Courts or your circuit court clerk. For advice about your specific situation, consult a licensed Florida attorney.
Sources: Florida Courts (flcourts.gov), Instructions for Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 12.995(a), Parenting Plan (02/18), Section 61.13, Florida Statutes