Parenting Plan Clauses in Australia: What to Include in Your DIY Agreement

Why Your Parenting Plan Needs Specific Clauses

A parenting plan under the Family Law Act 1975 must be in writing, signed and dated by both parents, and entered into freely without coercion. Those are the legal minimums. But meeting the legal minimum and creating a plan that actually works in practice are very different things.

The plans that hold up — the ones that don't send parents back to mediation or court within 12 months — are the ones with specific, detailed clauses that leave no room for interpretation. "Parent A has the children on weekends" is a clause that invites conflict. "The children transition to Parent A's care at 5:00 PM on Friday and return to Parent B's care at 5:00 PM on Sunday, with Parent A responsible for all transportation" is a clause that prevents it.

The Core Clauses Every Parenting Plan Needs

Decision-Making Allocation

Since the May 2024 reforms abolished the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility, your plan needs to state clearly who makes decisions about what. Major long-term issues under Australian family law include:

• Education (which school, tutoring, learning support)
• Health (medical treatment, dental, mental health, vaccinations)
• Religious and cultural upbringing
• The child's name
• Extracurricular activities involving significant commitment or cost

For each category, specify whether decisions are made jointly (requiring consultation and a genuine attempt to reach a joint decision) or by one parent alone. You can split these — one parent might have sole decision-making for education while both parents share medical decisions. The key is writing it down explicitly rather than assuming you will "just work it out."

Day-to-day decisions — what the child eats, wears, and what time they go to bed — are always made by whichever parent has care of the child at that time. You do not need to address these in the plan.

Weekly Care Schedule

Spell out which days and nights the child spends with each parent during school term weeks. Include exact transition times and who is responsible for transport. Common structures include:

• Alternating weeks — 7 days with each parent, rotating weekly (often with a mid-week dinner visit with the other parent)
• 2-2-3 — 2 days Parent A, 2 days Parent B, 3 days Parent A, then reversed the following week
• Every-other-weekend plus a weeknight — the child lives primarily with one parent and spends alternate weekends and one weeknight with the other

The right schedule depends on the child's age, both parents' work patterns, and how close the two homes are to the child's school. See the detailed breakdown in our custody schedules guide.

Holiday and Special Occasion Rotations

This is where most DIY parenting plans fall apart. School holidays, Christmas, Easter, birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and ANZAC Day all need their own clauses.

A basic framework that covers the essentials:

• School holidays: Divide each holiday period in half, alternating which parent gets the first half each year (odd years vs even years)
• Christmas: Alternate Christmas Eve/Day and Boxing Day annually — one parent has Christmas Eve through Christmas morning in even years, the other in odd years
• Birthdays: The birthday parent has the child from after school until bedtime, regardless of whose regular night it is
• Mother's Day and Father's Day: The child always spends the day with the relevant parent, overriding the regular schedule

Include a notice requirement for holiday travel. A common clause: "Each parent must provide the other with at least 14 days' written notice of any travel plans during their holiday time, including destination, accommodation details, and emergency contact numbers."

Changeover Protocols

Specify where changeovers happen, who provides transport, and what the child should bring. Address:

• The changeover location (school pickup is often simplest because it eliminates face-to-face exchanges between parents)
• Which parent drives, or whether responsibility alternates
• What items the child travels with (school bag, medications, comfort items)
• What happens if a parent is late — a reasonable buffer (15 minutes) and a notification requirement

For high-conflict situations, consider supervised changeovers at a neutral public location, with no direct contact between parents.

Communication With the Child

When the child is with one parent, the other parent should have clear communication rights. Specify:

• Frequency and timing of phone or video calls (e.g., "a video call between 6:30 PM and 7:00 PM on each non-residential evening")
• Which platform (FaceTime, phone call, WhatsApp)
• That neither parent will monitor, record, or interrupt the child's calls with the other parent

Expense-Sharing Arrangements

Beyond child support (which is calculated separately by Services Australia), parents commonly need to split additional costs. Address:

• School fees, uniforms, and book lists
• Extracurricular activity costs (sports registration, music lessons, equipment)
• Uninsured medical and dental expenses
• Childcare costs

A common approach is a percentage split proportional to each parent's income, with a requirement that both parents agree to any expense over a specified threshold (e.g., $200) before it is incurred.

Dispute Resolution Clause

Include a commitment to return to family dispute resolution before applying to court if a disagreement arises about the plan's interpretation or a proposed change. This clause matters because it demonstrates to any future court that both parents intended to resolve disputes cooperatively.

Clauses That Strengthen Your Plan

Beyond the core clauses, consider adding:

• Review schedule: A commitment to review the plan annually, or when the child reaches a developmental milestone (starting school, turning 12), to ensure the arrangements still fit
• Relocation notice: A requirement for either parent to provide 60 to 90 days' written notice before relocating, along with a proposed adjustment to the parenting schedule
• Introduction of new partners: A minimum timeframe (commonly 6 months) before a new partner stays overnight when the child is present
• Social media: Agreement not to post identifiable photos of the child without both parents' consent

From Parenting Plan to Consent Orders

A parenting plan is not directly enforceable by the court. If you want the certainty of legal enforcement, you can use your plan as the basis for Consent Orders by preparing proposed orders and filing an Application for Consent Orders with the Federal Circuit and Family Court through the Commonwealth Courts Portal. The clauses you draft in your parenting plan become the foundation of your Proposed Consent Orders template — which is why getting the language right at this stage saves significant time and cost later.

The Queensland Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide provides pre-drafted clause templates for every section above — designed so you can adapt them to your family's situation and use them in a Consent Orders application, or brief a lawyer for a quick review rather than paying for hours of from-scratch drafting.

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