Washington Parenting Plan: What It Covers and How to Create One

Washington Does Not Use "Custody" — It Uses Parenting Plans

If you search for custody forms on the Washington Courts website, you will not find them. That is because Washington retired the terms "legal custody" and "physical custody" years ago. Instead, every divorcing or separating parent in Washington must create a parenting plan under RCW 26.09.184.

A parenting plan is a court order that covers three things: where your child will live on every day of the year (the residential schedule), who makes major decisions about education, healthcare, and religious upbringing (decision-making authority), and how you and the other parent will resolve future disagreements without going back to court (dispute resolution).

Every parenting plan in Washington — whether the parents agree on everything or a judge decides after a contested trial — must be filed on Form FL All Family 140. The court will not accept a parenting plan written on plain paper, regardless of how thorough it is.

What Form FL All Family 140 Requires

The mandatory form breaks your parenting plan into several required sections, and leaving any section blank gives the court a reason to reject your filing.

Residential provisions are the most detailed section. You need a specific schedule covering regular school weeks, weekends, and midweek transitions. You also need a separate holiday rotation that alternates major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas or winter break, spring break, summer) between parents on even and odd years. Transportation responsibilities — who drives, who pays for gas, where exchanges happen — must be spelled out.

Decision-making authority covers three categories: education, healthcare, and religious upbringing. For each category, you designate whether one parent decides alone or both parents must agree. If a domestic violence finding exists under RCW 26.09.191, joint decision-making is prohibited — the 2026 Thiess appellate decision confirmed this applies even when both parents have domestic violence findings.

Dispute resolution requires you to name a specific method (mediation, arbitration, or counseling) and identify a provider that both parents will use before filing a court motion over implementation disagreements. Courts waive this requirement when there is a history of domestic violence.

The July 2025 form update added three new attachments: Attachment A for substance abuse and domestic violence limitations, Attachment B for sex offense findings, and Attachment C for supervised visitation rules. If your case involves any safety concerns, these attachments are mandatory.

Temporary vs. Permanent Parenting Plans

Washington recognizes two types of parenting plans, and parents regularly confuse them.

A temporary parenting plan is entered early in the case — often within the first 30 days — to establish stability while the divorce or parentage case is pending. It sets an interim residential schedule and prevents either parent from unilaterally relocating with the child. Temporary plans are decided by a Superior Court commissioner, often based solely on written declarations without a full evidentiary hearing.

A permanent parenting plan is entered as part of the final decree and governs the family going forward. It can only be modified later through a formal modification process under RCW 26.09.260, which requires showing a substantial change of circumstances. The permanent plan should be far more detailed than the temporary version — vague language in a permanent plan leads to years of post-decree conflict.

How to Draft a Parenting Plan That the Court Will Accept

Start with the residential schedule, because everything else flows from it. Calculate the number of overnights each parent will have per year — this percentage affects child support calculations and, if a relocation dispute arises later, determines whether the 55% custody presumption applies.

For the residential schedule, choose a structure that matches your child's age and your logistics. Alternating weeks work well for school-age children when both parents live in the same school district. The 2-2-5-5 rotation (two days with Parent A, two days with Parent B, then alternating five-day blocks) gives younger children more frequent contact with both parents. For very young children under three, developmental research supports shorter, more frequent visits rather than extended overnights.

Next, draft the holiday schedule. Washington courts expect specificity — not "parents will share holidays" but "Child is with Parent A from 9:00 AM on Thanksgiving Day through 6:00 PM on the Friday after Thanksgiving in even-numbered years, and with Parent B in odd-numbered years." Include provisions for each parent's birthday, the child's birthday, Mother's Day, Father's Day, school breaks, and summer vacation.

Then address decision-making. If you and the other parent communicate well, joint decision-making across all three categories works. If communication is difficult, consider splitting categories — for example, one parent handles educational decisions while the other handles healthcare decisions. This eliminates the need for agreement on every issue.

Finally, specify a dispute resolution method. Mediation through a specific provider is the most common choice. King County's Family Court Services offers sliding-scale parenting plan mediation for residents.

The Parenting Seminar Requirement

Before the court will sign your permanent parenting plan, both parents must complete a mandatory parenting seminar. The specific class and deadline depend on your county.

In King County, parents attend the "What About the Children?" seminar under LFLR 13(c) within 60 days of service. The class runs via Zoom and costs $80. In Spokane County, the equivalent is "Sharing the Children" through the Northwest Mediation Center at $31. Snohomish County accepts either "Successful Co-Parenting" or "Children in Between." Kitsap County is an outlier — it prohibits online classes entirely and requires in-person attendance.

The court will refuse to enter your final parenting plan if the completion certificates are missing, regardless of whether both parents have agreed on every term.

When You Need More Than Free Court Forms

The blank FL All Family 140 form is available for free on courts.wa.gov, and courthouse facilitators in every county can check whether you have the right forms and signatures. But facilitators are legally prohibited from telling you what to write, recommending a schedule, or explaining how the residential time you propose will affect child support.

If you want a structured walkthrough of how to complete each section of the parenting plan — including residential schedule templates, a child support deviation worksheet, and county-specific procedural timelines — the Washington Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide covers the entire process from filing through final orders.

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