How to Fill Out Wisconsin Form FA-4147V Parenting Plan Without a Lawyer

You can fill out Wisconsin's Form FA-4147V — the Proposed Parenting Plan — without a lawyer, and thousands of parents do it every year. The form is available free from the Wisconsin Court System website. What it doesn't come with is any explanation of how to make the decisions each blank field requires. This guide walks through every section of the FA-4147V, explains what the court is looking for, and flags the three places where getting it wrong costs you the most.

The completed FA-4147V must be submitted to the mediator at least 10 days before your initial mediation session under § 767.405. Missing that deadline can waive your right to contest the other parent's plan. So the preparation matters more than the form itself.

Before You Start: Three Things You Need Ready

Your proposed placement schedule mapped to actual overnights. The FA-4147V asks for a biweekly physical placement schedule. Before you fill in those boxes, calculate the total annual overnights your proposed schedule produces. This number directly determines your child support calculation under DCF 150: below 92 overnights, you pay the flat percentage standard. At 92 or above, the shared-placement formula applies — shifting the obligation by hundreds of dollars monthly. Know your overnight count before you commit anything to the form.

Both parents' gross income and employer information. The child support sections of the process require gross income figures. Have the last eight weeks of pay stubs and two years of tax returns ready. If either parent is self-employed, you'll need business income documentation. The court requires a complete, sworn financial disclosure rather than unsupported estimates.

A clear position on legal custody. Wisconsin separates "legal custody" (who makes major decisions about education, healthcare, and religion) from "physical placement" (where the child lives and when). The FA-4147V asks for your custody designation first. Under § 767.41(2)(am), the court presumes that joint legal custody is in the child's best interest. If you're requesting sole legal custody, you need to explain why — and the standard is high.

Walking Through the FA-4147V Section by Section

Section 1: Legal Custody Designation

The form asks whether you're proposing joint legal custody, sole legal custody to one parent, or a divided arrangement where each parent has authority over different decision categories.

Joint legal custody means both parents share authority over major decisions — education, non-emergency healthcare, choice of childcare, and religious upbringing. This is the court's presumed starting point. If both parents can communicate about these decisions without court intervention, joint legal custody is what you'll propose.

Sole legal custody grants one parent exclusive decision-making authority. To overcome the statutory presumption favoring joint custody, you typically need to show that the other parent has been uninvolved in the child's life, has a documented pattern of refusing to communicate about major decisions, or that domestic abuse under § 767.41(2)(d) creates a rebuttable presumption against joint custody.

Divided legal custody assigns different decision categories to different parents — for example, one parent makes education decisions while the other handles healthcare. Wisconsin courts occasionally approve this when parents have track records of cooperation in some areas but fundamental disagreements in others. It's uncommon but available.

The decision to write here: if you and your co-parent can discuss schools, doctors, and childcare without it escalating, propose joint legal custody. The court expects it, and deviating from the presumption without strong justification weakens your overall plan.

Section 2: Physical Placement Schedule

This is the section that trips up most self-represented parents. The form provides a biweekly grid where you mark which parent has placement on each day. For child-support calculations, annual overnights are the key count, but physical placement also includes scheduled periods when the child is physically in a parent's care.

You need to choose a schedule model that fits your child's age, both parents' work schedules, and the geographic distance between homes. The six most common models:

• Alternating weeks (182/183 split) — each parent has the child for a full week. Works best for school-age children with parents living in the same school district.
• 2-2-3 rotation — Parent A has Monday-Tuesday, Parent B has Wednesday-Thursday, weekends alternate. Produces a true 50/50 split. Works well for children who handle frequent transitions.
• 2-2-5-5 rotation — similar to 2-2-3 but with longer weekend stretches. Reduces total transitions.
• 5-2-2-5 (alternating extended weekends) — each parent gets a 5-day stretch followed by a 2-day stretch, alternating. Good for parents with predictable work schedules.
• Every other weekend plus midweek — primary placement with one parent, the other has alternating weekends and a midweek evening or overnight. Produces roughly 85-90/275-280 split.
• Long-distance/summer-heavy — regular schedule during the school year with one parent, extended blocks during summer and school breaks with the other. For parents 100 driving miles or more apart.

Each model produces a different overnight count. Map yours before filling in the biweekly grid. A schedule that looks like "roughly half" on paper might produce only 140 overnights when you count — which falls 42 overnights short of the 182 needed for a calendar-year 50/50 split, and well above the 92-overnight threshold for shared-placement child support.

Section 3: Holiday and Break Rotation

The FA-4147V asks you to designate which parent has placement on each major holiday, plus school breaks, birthdays, and special days. The standard approach is an even/odd year rotation: Parent A gets Thanksgiving and spring break in even years, Parent B gets them in odd years (and vice versa for Christmas/winter break and summer).

The details that matter here:

• Specify exact times. "Christmas" isn't a time. "December 24 at 5:00 PM through December 26 at 5:00 PM" is. Ambiguous language in your holiday section creates the conflicts that bring you back to court.
• Address three-day weekends. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day — these fall on Mondays and disrupt weekly schedules. Decide whether three-day weekends follow the regular schedule or alternate.
• Summer arrangements. Specify how many consecutive weeks each parent gets, the notice deadline for selecting dates (commonly 60 days before summer break), and whether the regular biweekly schedule resumes during weeks not designated as summer placement.
• Mother's Day and Father's Day. These almost always go to the named parent regardless of the regular schedule. Write it into the form.

Section 4: Transportation and Exchanges

Where do exchanges happen? Who drives? What time? These seem minor until the first missed pickup turns into a contempt motion.

Specify a neutral exchange location if either parent is uncomfortable at the other's home — a police station lobby, a school parking lot, or a public library. Designate which parent is responsible for transportation to and from the exchange point. If you're splitting driving, say so: "The receiving parent picks up the child at the other parent's home."

Section 5: Communication

The form asks how the child will communicate with the non-placement parent. Phone calls, video calls, text messages — specify what's permitted and when. A common framework: "The child may call or video-call either parent between 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM daily. Neither parent shall monitor, record, or interrupt the child's communication with the other parent."

Also address parent-to-parent communication: email, text, or a co-parenting app like OurFamilyWizard. If you're in a high-conflict situation, specifying written communication only (no phone calls between parents) reduces opportunities for verbal escalation.

Section 6: Dispute Resolution

The form asks what happens when parents disagree on a legal custody decision (education, healthcare, religion). Your options: informal negotiation, mediation, or return to court. Most plans specify a step-up approach — attempt to resolve informally, then mediate through a specified provider, then file a motion with the court as a last resort.

This section is where modification-proof language matters. "We'll work it out" isn't enforceable. "In the event of a dispute regarding a legal custody decision, the parties shall submit the dispute to mediation within 30 days of written notice by either party" is.

The Three Most Expensive Mistakes

Mistake 1: Not counting overnights. Parents propose schedules that produce fewer overnights than they assumed, then discover months later that their child support obligation is calculated under the flat percentage standard instead of the shared-placement formula. A 2-2-3 rotation produces 182–183 overnights per parent. An every-other-weekend-plus-midweek schedule produces 85–90. Know your number.

Mistake 2: Vague holiday language. "Alternate holidays" doesn't specify which holidays, what time transitions happen, or what happens when a holiday falls on a school day. Every ambiguity becomes a potential dispute, and a substantial alteration to a final custody or placement order is subject to the two-year rule under § 767.451.

Mistake 3: Skipping the Right of First Refusal clause. Wisconsin doesn't automatically require this, but including it prevents the other parent from leaving the child with third parties (grandparents, new partners) during their placement time without offering you the first opportunity to care for the child. If this matters to you, add it. If it doesn't, its absence is also a decision.

Where This Gets You

A completed FA-4147V with thoughtful, specific language in every section puts you in the position that matters: walking into mediation (or a temporary hearing before the Family Court Commissioner) with a plan the court can work from, not a set of blank fields the mediator fills in for you.

The Wisconsin Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide provides the full section-by-section FA-4147V walkthrough, six schedule models with overnight calculations, the DCF 150 child support formula explained with worked examples, and printable worksheets for organizing your position before mediation. It covers the decisions the blank form doesn't explain.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I file the FA-4147V with the court or give it to the mediator?

Both, but at different stages. You submit your completed Proposed Parenting Plan to the mediator at least 10 days before your initial mediation session. If you and your co-parent reach an agreement at mediation, the agreed-upon version is filed with the court as a stipulated order. If mediation doesn't produce agreement, or mediation is waived, each parent must file their individual FA-4147V with the Clerk of Court within 60 days of the impasse notification or waiver order; those plans can then be considered at the final hearing.

What if I fill out the FA-4147V wrong — can I change it?

Yes, before the final order is entered. The FA-4147V is a proposed plan — it's your starting position for negotiation. You can revise it during mediation and submit an updated version. Once the judge signs a final order, however, a substantial alteration to that order is governed by the two-year rule under § 767.451. Within two years, substantial alteration requires substantial evidence that the current conditions are physically or emotionally harmful to the child. After two years, modification generally requires the child's best interest and a substantial change in circumstances. Getting it right the first time avoids that restricted window.

Can both parents submit the same FA-4147V?

Yes. If both parents agree on the parenting plan, you can submit a joint FA-4147V. This is the fastest path to a final order — the court reviews the agreement to confirm it meets the child's best interests under the 16 statutory factors and, if satisfied, enters it as a court order. Joint submissions typically move through the system faster than separate, competing plans.

What happens if I miss the 10-day deadline to submit my plan before mediation?

The consequences vary by county, but at worst, failing to submit a completed FA-4147V 10 days before mediation can waive your right to contest the other parent's plan. The mediator works from whatever is in front of them. If only one parent submitted a plan, that plan becomes the starting point — and starting from the other parent's proposal means negotiating backwards to get what you want. Submit on time.

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