Parenting Plan in Prince Edward Island

A parenting plan is a written agreement that sets out how you and the other parent will share parenting time, divide decision-making responsibility, and handle the operational logistics of raising your child across two homes. In PEI, it is not just a good idea — if you file for divorce or a parenting order through the Supreme Court, your petition must include the proposed parenting arrangements. Walking in with a detailed, child-focused plan makes everything move faster.

The Essential Elements

The Supreme Court of PEI and the Family Court Conciliation Office both expect parenting plans to address the same core areas. A plan that covers these elements demonstrates thoroughness and reduces the likelihood of future disputes:

Routine parenting time schedule. Specify exactly where the child will be every day of the week — including transition times and locations. Ambiguity here is the single largest source of post-order conflict. A clear schedule might read: "Parent A has the child from Sunday 6:00 PM to Wednesday 8:00 AM. Parent B has the child from Wednesday after school to Sunday 6:00 PM."

Holiday and vacation schedule. Set out which parent has the child for each major holiday, school break, and summer period. The standard approach is alternating years — Parent A has Christmas Day in even years, Parent B in odd years. Also address PD days, March break, and the summer split (consecutive two-week blocks are common).

Decision-making structure. State whether decision-making responsibility is joint, sole, or divided — and for which domains (health, education, religion, significant extracurriculars). If joint, establish a process for what happens when parents disagree on a major decision.

Transportation and transfers. Who drives the child to transitions? Where do exchanges happen — at school, at a parent's home, at a neutral location? How are transportation costs shared? If parents live in different parts of the island (Charlottetown and Summerside, for example), this section matters more.

Communication protocols. How will parents communicate about the child? Many PEI families use email or co-parenting apps (OurFamilyWizard, Cozi) to keep communication documented and reduce conflict. Also address how the non-residential parent communicates with the child during the other parent's time — phone calls, video calls, and at what times.

Information sharing. Both parents should have direct access to the child's school records, medical records, dental records, and extracurricular information. A good plan states this explicitly and names both parents as authorized contacts.

Dispute resolution. Establish what happens when the plan breaks down. Most plans include a stepped process: discuss directly → attempt mediation → apply to the court. Putting this in writing prevents immediate escalation to litigation over routine disagreements.

Aligning with Court Expectations

PEI's Family Court Conciliation Office uses the AFCCO (Association of Family and Conciliation Courts Ontario) template as a reference framework. You do not need to use that exact form, but structuring your plan around the same categories — parenting time, decision-making, communication, information sharing, and dispute resolution — aligns with what mediators and judges expect to see.

Two common mistakes to avoid:

Vague language. "The parents will share parenting time equally" is not a schedule. The court wants specific days, times, and locations. If it is not written down clearly enough for either parent to point to a specific Tuesday and know exactly where the child should be, it is too vague.

Using outdated terminology. Court pleadings, separation agreements, and judicial orders must use decision-making responsibility and parenting time; the older custody/access terms are obsolete.

How the Plan Fits into Filing

If you are filing for an uncontested divorce using the CLI PEI Divorce Form Builder ($200 CAD), you must have a completed parenting agreement before you can use the tool — it only generates forms for cases where both spouses have already agreed on all terms. A finished parenting plan satisfies this prerequisite.

If you are filing a contested application, your parenting plan becomes your proposed arrangement — the starting point the court evaluates against the best interests of the child.

The Prince Edward Island Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide provides structured worksheets for each section of the plan, plus worked examples of common schedule arrangements.

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