Ontario Parenting Plan Template: What to Include and How to Draft One

A parenting plan is the single most important document you'll create during your separation. Done well, it prevents years of conflict. Done poorly — or left vague — it guarantees repeated trips back to court.

Ontario family courts expect parenting plans to be detailed, specific, and focused on the child's needs. If your plan says "Parent B will have reasonable parenting time," a judge will send you back to fix it. The court wants exact days, exact times, and clear protocols for handling disputes.

The Sections Every Ontario Parenting Plan Needs

1. Decision-Making Responsibility

Specify who makes major decisions about your child's health care, education, religious upbringing, and significant extracurricular activities. Your three options:

• Joint — both parents must agree (requires functional communication)
• Sole — one parent decides (appropriate for high-conflict situations)
• Parallel — divide by category (one parent handles education, the other handles medical)

For each category, include what happens when parents disagree. A common approach: 30-day written discussion period, then mediation, then court as a last resort.

2. Residential Schedule

This is where most plans fail. Be specific:

• Which days and times the child is with each parent during the regular school year
• Exact transition times and locations (e.g., "Friday at 5:00 PM at the child's school")
• Who handles transportation for each transition
• Whether the schedule changes during summer, PA days, or March break

Common schedules for Ontario families include the 2-2-3 rotation (best for young children who need frequent contact with both parents), the 2-2-5-5 schedule (predictable for school-age kids — same parent every Monday/Tuesday), and alternating weeks (appropriate for teens who can manage longer separations).

3. Holiday and Special Day Rotation

Build an alternating schedule for:

• Christmas/winter break (split by Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, or by first half/second half)
• March break
• Summer vacation (typically 2-4 week blocks)
• Statutory holidays (Thanksgiving, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day)
• Each parent's birthday, Mother's Day, Father's Day
• The child's birthday
• Cultural or religious holidays specific to your family

Specify whether odd/even year rotation or fixed assignments work better for your family.

4. Communication Protocol

Define how parents communicate about the child:

• Primary channel (email, co-parenting app like OurFamilyWizard, text)
• Response time expectations (e.g., 24 hours for non-urgent matters)
• Rules for phone/video calls between the child and the non-residential parent
• What constitutes an emergency that requires immediate contact

5. Right of First Refusal

If one parent can't be with the child during their scheduled time, must they offer that time to the other parent before calling a babysitter? If so, specify the minimum duration that triggers this right (common threshold: 4 or more hours).

6. Section 7 Expenses

Outline how you'll handle extraordinary child-related costs:

• Which expenses both parents agree to fund
• How new expenses are proposed and approved
• Documentation requirements (receipts within 30 days)
• Proportional split based on income

7. Relocation Notice

Under Ontario law, a parent planning to relocate must provide 60 days' written notice. Your plan should specify what constitutes a "significant move" versus a local change of address within the same school district.

8. Dispute Resolution

Before court, you should try: direct negotiation (with a deadline), then mediation, then arbitration or court. Spell out each step and the timeline for escalation.

Making It Enforceable

An Ontario parenting plan becomes legally enforceable only when it's incorporated into a signed separation agreement (with each parent getting independent legal advice) or filed as a consent order with the court. Without this step, it's just a well-intentioned document with no enforcement mechanism.

The Form 35.1 Connection

If your case goes to court, you'll need to file a Form 35.1 Affidavit that describes your proposed parenting arrangement. Your parenting plan feeds directly into this document. A well-drafted plan makes your Form 35.1 significantly stronger.

The Ontario Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide provides worksheet templates for each section above, plus drafting examples that use Ontario's current legal terminology — so your plan matches what courts and mediators expect to see.

See more Ontario guides →