West Virginia Parenting Plan: How to Create One That Courts Accept

A West Virginia parenting plan isn't a casual agreement you sketch out on a napkin. It's a legal document filed with the family court that governs every aspect of your child's schedule — and if it's incomplete or poorly structured, a judge can reject it outright.

Here's what the plan requires, how to file it correctly, and where parents most commonly trip up.

The Required Form: SCA-FC-121

Every custody case in West Virginia — whether part of a divorce or a standalone petition — must include a Proposed Parenting Plan filed on Form SCA-FC-121. This is the state's mandatory template, and the family court will not accept a freestyle custody agreement in its place.

You have two filing paths:

Joint plan: If both parents agree on all terms, you file a single SCA-FC-121 signed by both parties in front of a notary. This is the fastest route — the court can approve it without a contested hearing.

Individual plans: If you disagree on any terms, each parent files their own SCA-FC-121. The filing parent must also submit a Worksheet for Individual Proposed Parenting Plan (Form SCA-FC-128) documenting their caretaking history, plus a Motion to Adopt (Form SCA-FC-129). Expect mediation and potentially a trial.

What the Plan Must Cover

West Virginia family courts require parenting plans to be specific enough that a third party could read the document and know exactly where the child should be on any given day. That means your plan needs to address:

Regular schedule: Which days and overnights the child spends with each parent during the school year. Common arrangements include alternating weeks (true 50/50), 2-2-5-5 rotations, or primary residence with midweek visits.

Holiday and school break rotation: A year-by-year alternating schedule for every major holiday — Thanksgiving, Christmas/winter break, spring break, Memorial Day, Labor Day, July 4th. The plan should specify exact pickup and drop-off times, not just "alternating holidays."

Summer schedule: Extended summer parenting time for the non-primary parent, or a modified version of the regular schedule. If parents live far apart, summer blocks of 4-8 consecutive weeks are common.

Birthday and special occasions: Who has the child on their birthday, each parent's birthday, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and any family-specific dates.

Transportation and exchange logistics: Who drives, where exchanges happen (school, a neutral location, a specific address), and what happens when school is closed and the normal exchange point isn't available.

Decision-making allocation: How major decisions about education, healthcare, religion, and extracurricular activities will be made — jointly, or with one parent holding tie-breaking authority in specific areas.

The Caretaking History Worksheet

If you're filing an individual (contested) plan, the Worksheet for Individual Proposed Parenting Plan is the document that carries the most weight. It asks you to detail the division of parenting duties over the preceding 24 months:

• Who handled morning routines, school transportation, and after-school care
• Who attended doctor and dentist appointments
• Who managed homework, bedtime, and overnight care
• Who participated in school conferences and extracurricular activities

This worksheet is how the court evaluates "historical caretaking roles" — one of the primary factors under W. Va. Code § 48-9-206. Vague answers ("we shared everything equally") are far less persuasive than specific, documented patterns.

Financial Disclosures Travel With the Plan

Your parenting plan filing must include a Financial Statement (Form SCA-FC-106), a sworn disclosure of all monthly income, expenses, assets, and debts. This isn't optional paperwork — Family Court Rules 9 and 13 require you to attach physical proof:

• Three most recent paystubs
• Last two years of federal and state tax returns
• Self-employment financials if applicable
• Childcare expense invoices
• Uninsured medical expense documentation

Incomplete financial disclosures can result in delays, sanctions, or the court imputing income based on your earning capacity rather than your actual earnings.

Common Mistakes That Get Plans Rejected

Vague scheduling language: "Reasonable visitation" or "as the parties agree" is not enforceable. Courts need specific days, times, and locations.

Ignoring the overnight count: Your parenting schedule directly determines child support. The 128-overnight threshold triggers a different support worksheet (Worksheet B), which uses a 1.6 multiplier. Getting the overnight math wrong means your support calculation will be wrong too.

Skipping the parent education class: Both parents must complete "Children in Between Online" ($25 per parent) and file the certificate at least 5 days before the first hearing. If you haven't done this, the court can halt your case.

No tie-breaker provisions: Writing "joint decision-making by mutual consent" without specifying what happens during a deadlock guarantees return trips to court. Effective plans assign tie-breaking authority by category — one parent might have final say on education while the other has final say on medical decisions.

After You File

Once filed, the other parent is formally served and has 20 days to respond (30 if served out of state). If they oppose your plan, the court enters a temporary order and refers both parents to pre-mediation screening. If the screener finds no safety concerns, mandatory mediation follows.

The filing fee is $135 for a divorce case or $200 for a standalone custody petition. Fee waivers are available through the Financial Affidavit (Form SCA-C&M201) for households at or below 125% of the Federal Poverty Level.

The West Virginia Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide includes fill-in worksheets for your caretaking history, overnight calculations, holiday rotation templates, and decision-making allocation — everything you need to build a plan that satisfies family court requirements.

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