Mediating a Florida Parenting Plan: What the Plan Must Cover and How to Build It at the Table

Every Florida case involving time-sharing with a minor child needs a parenting plan, even when the parents agree on everything. The instructions to the Supreme Court approved form say it directly: the plan must be developed and agreed to by the parents and approved by the court, and if the parents cannot agree, the court will establish one.

Most parents would rather write their own than have a judge write it for them. Mediation is where that usually happens. This post walks through what a plan has to contain, which approved form fits which family, and how the mediation session is typically used to fill it in.

The statutory minimum

Section 61.13(2)(b) says a court-approved parenting plan must, at a minimum:

1. Describe in adequate detail how the parents will share and be responsible for the daily tasks associated with the upbringing of the child.
2. Include the time-sharing schedule arrangements that specify the time the child will spend with each parent.
3. Designate who is responsible for health care, for school-related matters (including the address to be used for school-boundary determination and registration), and for other activities.
4. Describe in adequate detail the methods and technologies the parents will use to communicate with the child.
5. Unless the parents agree otherwise in writing, designate authorized locations for exchanging the child.

Two background rules shape the negotiation. Section 61.13(2)(c) directs the court to order shared parental responsibility unless it finds that sharing would be detrimental to the child, and, unless otherwise provided or agreed, it creates a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing is in the child's best interests. Parents are free to agree to something else. They are negotiating against that baseline.

Which approved form

The Florida Supreme Court has approved three parenting plan forms, posted on flcourts.gov:

• Form 12.995(a), Parenting Plan. The standard form, for families where safety and supervised time-sharing are not concerns.
• Form 12.995(b), Supervised/Safety-Focused Parenting Plan. For cases where a parent believes the child cannot safely be alone with the other parent, or that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental. It allows time-sharing while building in protection for the child.
• Form 12.995(c), Relocation/Long Distance Parenting Plan. For relocation cases under section 61.13001 and for parents who live far enough apart that a standard weekly rotation is not workable.

The forms are a checklist as much as a document. Parents who read the right one before mediation arrive knowing what decisions they will be asked to make.

What the standard plan walks through

Form 12.995(a) is organized into sections that map closely onto the decisions parents actually need to make.

Parental responsibility and decision-making. Shared or sole responsibility, and whether one parent will have ultimate authority over particular areas such as education or health care if the parents cannot agree.

Information sharing. Access to school and medical records and the ability to consult directly with the child's teachers, doctors, and other professionals.

The regular schedule. The weekday and weekend rotation during the school year. This is where most of the hours in a mediation go, and it is where the 73-overnight threshold for child support sits in the background, as discussed in our post on the gross-up method.

Holidays and breaks. The form offers a choice: no special holiday schedule, holidays as the parties agree, or a specific schedule that takes priority over the regular one. The specific schedule covers Winter Break, Spring Break, Summer Break, and individual holidays, typically alternating by odd and even years. "As the parties agree" is the option most likely to produce a dispute in December. Parents who can agree in mediation should write it down.

Transportation and exchanges. Who drives, where exchanges happen, and who pays for transportation. For families split between, say, Fleming Island and Fernandina Beach, or Jacksonville and St. Augustine, the drive is a real cost and a real source of friction.

Education. Which school the child will attend and how school decisions are made.

Designation for other legal purposes. A designation of the parent with whom the child is scheduled to reside the majority of the time, made solely for purposes of other state and federal laws that require one. The form states that the designation does not affect either parent's rights and responsibilities under the plan, and parents with a near-equal schedule sometimes need to be reminded of that.

Communication. How the parents communicate with each other (the form directs that the children not be used as messengers) and how each parent communicates with the child during the other parent's time, by phone, video, or other technology.

Child care, modification, relocation, and dispute resolution. The form includes provisions on child care arrangements, a provision that substantial changes must be sought by a supplemental petition for modification, a statement that relocation is governed by section 61.13001, and a dispute resolution clause that encourages mediation or parenting coordination before filing.

How mediation is used to build it

A mediated parenting plan usually starts with the calendar. The mediator asks the parents to describe the current routine: school hours, work shifts, activities, who handles which mornings. The schedule is easier to negotiate once both parents see the same week on paper.

From there the session typically works outward: the regular rotation, then holidays and breaks, then exchanges and transportation, then communication and decision-making. Many mediators work directly from the approved form, marking the options the parents choose and drafting the specific language where the form calls for it.

When the parents reach agreement, Rule 12.740(f) requires that the agreement be reduced to writing and signed. A parenting plan reached in mediation is then submitted to the court for approval. The court's job is to confirm that the plan is in the child's best interests, not to rewrite a reasonable agreement.

Partial agreement is common and useful. Parents who agree on everything except summer break have narrowed the trial to one issue.

The mediator's role, and its limits

A certified family mediator is a neutral. The mediator does not represent either parent, does not decide anything, and under Rule 10.370(c) of the Florida Rules for Certified and Court-Appointed Mediators may not offer an opinion intended to coerce the parties, decide the dispute, or direct a resolution, and may not predict how the presiding court will rule. A mediator can describe how other families have structured a particular holiday, point out a provision that tends to cause trouble, or note a term the parents have not yet addressed. The decisions remain the parents'.

That is why parents who have lawyers should consult them before and during mediation. The mediator can make sure the plan is complete. Only a parent's own lawyer can tell that parent whether the plan is a good deal.

Preparation that pays off

Bring the school calendar. Bring both work schedules. Read the approved form that fits your family before the session. Think about the exchanges that are hard now and what would make them easier. And come with a clear sense of what matters most for your child, because a mediated plan is built from tradeoffs.

Steven C. Fraser, Esq., Florida Bar No. 625825, Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator No. 37256 CFR. Jacksonville, Florida. 877-862-7188.