Building a Parenting Plan in Kansas

What the Statute Requires

Under K.S.A. 23-3213, every custody action in Kansas — whether it's part of a divorce or a standalone paternity case — requires a written parenting plan filed with the court. The statute mandates four minimum components:

1. Legal custody designation — a clear statement of whether the parents share joint legal custody (decision-making authority over education, healthcare, and religious upbringing) or one parent exercises sole legal custody
2. Parenting time schedule — a specific, written schedule defining when the child is with each parent, including regular weekdays, weekends, and transition details
3. Dispute resolution procedure — a defined process the parents must follow before asking the court to intervene in disagreements about the plan (typically mediation or conciliation)
4. Military service provisions — if either parent is an active service member, the plan must address custody and parenting-time modifications during deployment, mobilization, or unaccompanied tours

Meeting these four statutory requirements gets you a technically valid plan. But technically valid and practically functional are very different things.

What Most Parents Miss

Judges reject vague parenting plans regularly. A plan that says "parents will share holidays" creates conflict. A plan that specifies "Parent A has the children from 9:00 a.m. December 24 through 9:00 a.m. December 26 in odd-numbered years; Parent B has the same window in even-numbered years" doesn't.

Holiday and School Break Schedules

Specify exact pickup and drop-off times for every major holiday — Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's, Spring Break, Summer Break, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and each child's birthday. Alternate by odd and even years. State who handles transportation for each exchange.

Transportation and Exchanges

Define who picks up, who drops off, and where. If face-to-face contact between parents creates conflict, use school-based exchanges (the departing parent drops off at school in the morning; the arriving parent picks up after school). If school isn't in session, designate a neutral public location.

Communication During the Other Parent's Time

Set reasonable windows for phone or video calls between the child and the non-residential parent. Specify that interference with these calls is a violation of the plan. For high-conflict situations, require all parent-to-parent communication through a co-parenting app with timestamped records.

Decision-Making Protocol

Joint legal custody gives both parents equal rights in major decisions. But what happens when they disagree? The plan should include a step-by-step protocol: written proposal from one parent, response deadline (e.g., 48 hours), mediation if no agreement, then court motion as a last resort. Without this protocol, every disagreement becomes a potential court filing.

Relocation Notice

Under K.S.A. 23-3222, any parent with custody, residency, or parenting time must provide 30 days' written notice before changing the child's residence or removing the child from the state for more than 90 days. The notice must be sent by restricted mail with return receipt requested. Include this requirement explicitly in the plan even though it's already statutory — it reinforces awareness and accountability.

How to Draft Your Plan

Start with your family's actual logistics. Map out a typical two-week cycle:

• Each parent's work schedule — including rotating shifts, travel, and overtime patterns
• The child's school schedule — start times, end times, after-school activities, early dismissal days
• Distance between homes — mid-week exchanges are practical only if both parents live within reasonable driving distance of the child's school
• The child's developmental needs — younger children (under 5) generally benefit from more frequent but shorter transitions, while older children handle longer stretches (alternating weeks) better

Then select a schedule structure that fits. The three most common 50/50 arrangements in Kansas are the 2-2-3 rotation (best for younger children), the 2-2-5 rotation (consistent weekdays for school-age children), and alternating weeks (suited for teenagers). For primary-residency arrangements, every-other-weekend plus one midweek evening is the most common baseline.

Testing the Plan Before Filing

Before finalizing your plan, run it through a practical test:

• Walk through the next 30 days on a calendar. Mark every exchange. Identify conflicts with work schedules, school events, and existing commitments.
• Check holiday overlaps. Make sure holiday schedules don't contradict the regular weekly rotation in ways that create confusion about which schedule takes priority.
• Calculate the non-residential parent's parenting time percentage. Count the total hours that parent has the child per week (excluding school and structured daycare hours). This number directly affects child support calculations under the Kansas Child Support Guidelines.
• Identify gray areas. If you can imagine the other parent interpreting a clause differently than you intend, rewrite it with more specificity.

The Kansas Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide provides planning worksheets for each of these steps — schedule comparison tables, holiday rotation templates, and a parenting time calculator that feeds directly into the child support worksheet.

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