Colorado Parenting Plan: How to Fill Out JDF 1113 Step by Step

Every Colorado custody case — whether it's a divorce with children or a standalone Allocation of Parental Responsibilities (APR) filing — requires a completed JDF 1113 parenting plan. This isn't optional. The court will not finalize your case without one. And when you pull up the blank form, you'll quickly realize it asks for far more detail than most parents expect.

What Is the JDF 1113?

The JDF 1113 is the Colorado Judicial Branch's official parenting plan form. Once signed by a judge, it becomes a binding, enforceable court order that governs every aspect of your co-parenting arrangement. It covers:

• Decision-making responsibilities — who makes major decisions about education, healthcare, religious upbringing, and extracurricular activities
• Regular parenting time schedule — the recurring weekly or biweekly routine
• Holiday and vacation schedule — specific rotations for major holidays, school breaks, and birthdays
• Transportation and exchanges — pickup/drop-off times, locations, and who handles logistics
• Communication rules — how your child contacts the other parent, and how you communicate with each other
• Relocation procedures — what happens if one parent wants to move
• Dispute resolution — how future disagreements get resolved before going back to court

Section-by-Section Walkthrough

Decision-Making Allocation

The form asks you to specify whether each decision category is joint or sole for four areas: education, healthcare (non-emergency), religious upbringing, and extracurricular activities. You can mix and match — joint on education and healthcare, sole to one parent on religious upbringing.

If you choose joint decision-making, build in a tie-breaker mechanism. Many parenting plans include a clause requiring mediation before either parent can file a motion with the court over a disagreement.

The Regular Residential Schedule

This is where you define which nights your child sleeps at each home during a normal, non-holiday week. Be specific. "Every other weekend" is too vague. Specify the exact day and time exchanges happen — for example, "Parent B's parenting time begins Friday at 6:00 PM and ends Sunday at 6:00 PM on alternating weeks beginning [date]."

Common schedules in Colorado include the 2-2-5-5, alternating weeks, and the 2-2-3 rotation for younger children who need more frequent contact with both parents.

Holiday Schedule

The JDF 1113 asks you to address each major holiday individually. Most parents use an odd-year/even-year rotation. The holidays that cause the most conflict are Thanksgiving, Christmas/winter break, and summer vacation. Address them with surgical precision — specify not just the date but the exact pickup and drop-off times.

Don't forget school breaks (fall break, spring break), three-day weekends, and birthdays. When a holiday conflicts with the regular schedule, the holiday schedule takes priority — state this explicitly in your plan.

Transportation and Exchanges

Define who drives, where the exchange happens, and what happens if someone is late. Many Colorado parents use a neutral public location like a school or library parking lot, especially in high-conflict situations. If parents live far apart, specify whether one parent drives both ways, they meet halfway, or they alternate.

Communication Between Parent and Child

The form asks how your child will communicate with the other parent when they're not together. Specify the method (phone, video call, text), frequency (daily, every other day), and timing (before bedtime, after school). Avoid leaving this blank — unclear communication rules generate more post-decree conflicts than almost anything else.

Common Mistakes That Get Plans Rejected

Being too vague. "Reasonable parenting time" gives neither parent enforceable rights. Judges want specific days, times, and locations.

Forgetting the summer. Your regular schedule may not work during summer break. Address summer parenting time explicitly — many parents use a different rotation during June through August.

No dispute resolution clause. Courts want to see that you've planned for future disagreements. Include a mediation-first requirement before either parent can file a motion.

Ignoring the overnight count. Your child support calculation depends on how many overnights each parent has. The schedule you agree to in the JDF 1113 directly affects child support. Under Colorado's 2026 graduated parenting-time credit system, every overnight counts from the first one.

Filing the JDF 1113

If you and the other parent agree on the plan, you both sign it and submit it to the court as a stipulated parenting plan. The judge reviews it for completeness and the child's best interests, then enters it as an order.

If you can't agree, the court will order mediation. If mediation fails, each parent submits their proposed plan, and the judge conducts an evidentiary hearing to determine the final allocation.

The Colorado Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide provides a JDF 1113 walkthrough worksheet that maps each section of the form to plain-language questions — helping you work through the decisions before you start filling in blank fields.

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