Sole custody parenting plan · $54 $37

Start your sole custody plan from a full draft, not a blank page.

A complete primary-home parenting plan, with the reasoning behind every provision, so you can bring your attorney a structure to edit instead of a story to start from.

PDF + editable DOCX · Beyond 18 Addendum included

Bought separately, with Beyond 18: $54  ·  Together: $37  ·  You save $17

There's a “joint legal custody” line in your draft decree you're not sure you read the same way the other side does, and a relocation clause that sounds clear until you read it twice. But the part you keep coming back to is the section that isn't there. The thing you'd have asked about if you'd known to ask.

The decree-drafting season is the part most parents underestimate. Temporary orders are loud: hearings, deadlines. The decree is quiet, drafted over email, signed at a kitchen table, and then it governs the next decade of your family's life. This template is for the parent who wants to walk in with something instead of nothing.

Sole physical / joint legal, in plain language.

The children live primarily with one parent; the other has a defined parent-time schedule.

The part most people get wrong: “sole physical” describes where the children sleep most nights. It doesn't transfer decision-making. Joint legal custody is preserved in most of these arrangements, so major decisions stay shared. How much parent-time the other parent has varies enormously, from the statutory minimum to something close to equal, and the structure still holds.

Which structure describes your case is a legal question, and not one I can answer. I'm not an attorney. This describes what the framework covers so you can recognize whether it's in the neighborhood, then confirm it with counsel.

The “sole custody means I decide everything” trap

“Sole custody means I make all the decisions” is one of the most common assumptions parents bring to this arrangement and one of the most expensive to get wrong. Many parents are surprised to learn that in a number of states, sole physical custody speaks mainly to where the child sleeps most nights, while major decisions about education, medical care, and welfare are governed by joint legal custody, which most sole-custody arrangements still preserve. Whether your state treats it that way is a question for your attorney. The decision-making section is drafted to make that line explicit, with defined tie-breakers and backstops.

What's inside

Court-format, structured for your attorney's review:

• A relocation provision drafted for the children's continuity: a 50-mile or out-of-state threshold, 90 days' written notice, the other parent's consent or a court order, and a required notice package. Whether each threshold matches your state's relocation statute is a question for your attorney.
• A medical decision-making structure built so it doesn't drift into “the residence parent decides.” Major tie-breaks route to the treating provider, with a written-second-opinion override for either parent.
• An educational backstop for true deadlock rather than default authority, reachable only after good-faith consultation fails and the Parenting Coordinator has issued a determination.
• A new-partner overnight provision at a moderate threshold, 14 days' notice (notice, not consent), with safety concerns routed through the Parenting Coordinator.
• Child support payable through the state agency, set under your state's guidelines using verified income, with defined recalculation triggers. Run the calculation with your attorney before signing.
• A fee-shifting provision for concealed finances, with notes on why it is there, to ask your attorney about.
• A 48-hour response rule for properly formatted requests, so you can propose a way to stop waiting on unanswered ones.
• A tiered dispute-resolution sequence, five steps before court (notice, cure, Parenting Coordinator, mediation, court), drafted to make court the last resort.
• An expanded right-of-first-refusal provision, with a stated trigger threshold, an advance notice deadline, a response window, a default when nobody answers, and a list of what does not count, including school, regular daycare, activities, and time with relatives while the scheduled parent remains available.
• Attorney Notes, the drafting reasoning behind each provision, so you walk in saying “here's what I built and why” instead of starting from zero.
• Twenty-one hard-won lessons, drawn from observation and what other parents describe. They describe what tends to happen, not legal rules for your case.

Included free, the Beyond 18 Addendum. Most parenting plans end at the child's 18th birthday. Most disputes don't. A companion on the post-majority issues most decrees are silent on: FAFSA filing including the 2024 Simplification Act change, college and trade-school cost-sharing, ACA coverage to 26, tax dependency past 18, disabled-adult-child support with SSI and Medicaid coordination, and adult-child autonomy. Template-agnostic, works alongside any parenting plan, with attorney review.

Which one fits

• Joint 50/50: overnights within a few per year of each other.
• Sole Custody: one parent has the clear majority of overnights, with joint legal custody preserved.
• Split Custody: two or more children, with at least one living primarily with each parent.
• Not sure where you land? The free guide Which Parenting Plan Fits walks through it, and your attorney can confirm which structure fits your case. Bought the wrong one? Email within 14 days and we'll exchange it at no cost.

This may fit your situation if

• You're at the decree-drafting stage and want a written framework to bring to your attorney
• You'd rather walk in knowing what you're asking for than start from a blank page
• You want the drafting reasoning, not just the language

What this is not: Legal advice. A finished or court-ready document. A child-support calculation for your case. A guarantee any provision is enforceable in your state. A substitute for an attorney licensed in your state. A guarantee of any outcome.

Get your sole custody draft