How to Fill Out FL All Family 140 Yourself in Washington State

You can fill out Washington's Form FL All Family 140 yourself — and thousands of parents do it every year without an attorney. The form is free to download from courts.wa.gov, and every county's courthouse facilitator can verify that you have the right documents and signatures. What the form itself doesn't provide, and what facilitators can't legally help with, is guidance on what to actually write in each section: how to structure your residential schedule, which dispute-resolution option to select, and how to phrase provisions so a judge approves your plan on the first filing.

Here's what you need to know to complete the form correctly without paying attorney rates for basic preparation work.

What FL All Family 140 Actually Asks For

Washington's mandatory parenting plan form is 14 pages. The July 2025 revision is a basic plan plus attachments: Attachment R for the residential schedule, Attachment A for RCW 26.09.191 limitations, and Attachments B and C when sex-offense history or supervised visitation applies. Each part has specific requirements that aren't obvious from the form alone.

Children Covered by This Plan. Straightforward — list every child the plan covers, with full names and dates of birth. The most common error here is omitting a child from a prior relationship who isn't part of this case but shares the household. Only list children whose residential schedule is at issue in this proceeding.

Attachment R: Parenting Time Schedule (Residential Provisions). This is where most of the work happens. You need to specify which parent the children live with on school days, weekends, holidays, school breaks, and summer vacation — with exact dates and times, not vague language like "reasonable visitation." The court wants specificity: "Child resides with Parent B every other weekend from Friday at 6:00 PM to Sunday at 6:00 PM" is enforceable. "Parent B gets reasonable weekend time" is not.

Decision-Making (Section 6). Washington splits major decisions into three categories: education, healthcare, and religious upbringing. For each category, you designate whether one parent decides alone or both parents must agree (joint). If you select joint decision-making, you also need a dispute-resolution mechanism for when you disagree.

Dispute Resolution (Section 7). You select from mediation, arbitration, or court (each parent petitions the court to resolve the dispute). Most agreed plans choose mediation first, with court as the fallback. If the court finds a mandatory limitation under RCW 26.09.191 — including a history of domestic violence — it cannot order mediation or other alternative dispute resolution, and you should not select those options in the plan.

Attachment A: Limitations. This attachment addresses situations under RCW 26.09.191 where one parent's residential time should be restricted — domestic violence, substance abuse, neglect, or other safety concerns. If neither parent has limiting factors, you leave Attachment A off. If limiting factors exist, Attachment A becomes the most legally significant part of the entire form, and getting it wrong has serious consequences. Use Attachment B when a parent or household member has a sex-offense or child-sexual-abuse history under RCW 26.09.192, and Attachment C when the plan requires supervised visitation. If you complete Attachment A, its decision-making and dispute-resolution boxes must match Sections 6 and 7 of the basic plan.

The Three Provisions That Cause the Most Rejections

Courthouse facilitators and family court commissioners consistently identify the same drafting problems in self-prepared parenting plans.

Missing transportation details. Your plan needs to specify who handles pick-up and drop-off, where exchanges happen, and who pays for transportation when parents live far apart. A plan that says "parents will arrange transportation" gives neither parent an enforceable obligation. Specify: "Parent A is responsible for transporting the child to Parent B's residence for all scheduled transitions."

Incomplete holiday schedules. Washington courts expect parenting plans to address every major holiday and school break — not just Christmas and Thanksgiving. Your plan should cover Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, spring break, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving (including the day after), winter break, and any culturally significant holidays for your family. Many plans also specify Mother's Day and Father's Day.

The standard approach is alternating: Parent A gets Thanksgiving in even years, Parent B gets it in odd years. But you need to specify what time the holiday period starts and ends. "Thanksgiving" could mean Thursday only, Thursday through Sunday, or Wednesday through Sunday depending on your plan.

No communication protocol. Courts increasingly expect parenting plans to include provisions about how parents will communicate — both with each other and with the children during the other parent's residential time. At minimum, specify that each parent has the right to reasonable phone or video contact with the children during the other parent's time, and that parents will use a specific method (email, a co-parenting app, text) for non-emergency communication.

What You Need Before You Start

Gather these materials before you sit down with the form:

• Both parents' current addresses and phone numbers
• Each child's full legal name, date of birth, and current school
• Your school district's calendar for the current year (you'll use it for school break dates)
• Both parents' work schedules, if relevant to the residential schedule
• A list of your child's regular medical providers, extracurricular activities, and any special needs
• Financial records if you're also filing child support worksheets (W-2s, pay stubs, tax returns)
• Any existing temporary orders that are currently in effect

Having everything in front of you before you start avoids the back-and-forth of filling in some sections and leaving others blank because you need to look something up.

Where Self-Help Reaches Its Limit

Filling out FL All Family 140 yourself is entirely doable for agreed or low-conflict cases. But the form itself is just a container — and certain situations require more than the form provides.

If your case involves any of the limiting factors under RCW 26.09.191, the provisions you write in Attachment A have profound legal consequences. This isn't the section to draft based on a template.

If you're unsure whether your proposed residential schedule affects child support calculations, you may need help understanding the 90-overnight threshold for requesting a residential credit under RCW 26.19.075.

And if you and the other parent disagree on any significant provision — primary residence, decision-making authority, relocation — you're no longer drafting an agreed plan. You're preparing for a contested hearing, which involves declarations, evidence, and procedural rules that go well beyond what the form covers.

The Washington Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide covers the complete FL All Family 140 form section by section, with explanations of what each provision requires, what language courts want to see, and what drafting choices affect your child support calculation and future enforcement options. It includes residential schedule templates, a historical caregiving log worksheet for documenting your parenting history under RCW 26.09.187, and county-specific procedure guides for King, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane, Thurston, and other Washington counties.

For parents who can reach a basic agreement, this kind of structured walkthrough is the difference between a plan that gets approved on the first filing and one that comes back with a list of revisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a courthouse facilitator help me fill out FL All Family 140?

Facilitators can verify that you have the correct forms, check for missing signatures, and explain procedural requirements like filing fees and hearing dates. They are legally prohibited from advising you on what to write — they can't recommend a schedule, suggest a dispute-resolution clause, or help you draft declarations. That prohibition is the reason structured self-help guides exist.

What happens if I file a parenting plan with errors?

The court clerk will reject a filing that's missing required signatures or sections. A commissioner reviewing a technically complete but poorly drafted plan may issue a list of concerns and return the plan for revision, or — in an uncontested case — approve a plan with vague provisions that become unenforceable later. Either outcome costs you time and potentially additional filing fees.

Do both parents have to agree on the parenting plan?

For an agreed (stipulated) plan, yes — both parents sign. If you can't agree, either parent can file a proposed plan and request a hearing where a judge or commissioner will make the final decisions. The process for contested plans involves temporary orders, declarations, and potentially mediation or a trial. The FL All Family 140 form is the same regardless; the process around it changes significantly.

How long does it take to fill out FL All Family 140?

The form itself takes one to two hours if you have all your information ready. The preparation — deciding on a schedule, calculating overnight percentages, choosing dispute-resolution provisions, gathering supporting documents — typically takes several days to a week. Most of that time is spent on decisions, not paperwork.

Is there a deadline for filing the parenting plan?

In a new dissolution case, the petitioner files a proposed parenting plan with the initial petition. The respondent has 20 days to file a response if served in Washington (60 days if served out of state), which can include their own proposed plan. In a modification case, the plan is filed with the petition to modify. Your county's local rules may specify additional timeline requirements — King County and Spokane County both have case scheduling orders that set deadlines for filing final plans.

See more Washington guides →