New Jersey

New Jersey Parenting Plan template

New Jersey requires parties in a contested custody case to file a custody and parenting-time plan, and its statute expressly favors frequent and continuing contact with both parents.

Build my New Jersey plan — free

The words New Jersey uses

Using the wrong vocabulary is the fastest way to look like you copied a form off the internet. In New Jersey:

• The document is called a Parenting Plan.
• Time with a child is parenting time.
• Decision-making authority is legal custody.
• Governing law: N.J.S.A. § 9:2-4.

New Jersey requires its own form

New Jersey courts use Custody and Parenting Time Plan. We don't try to replace it — the court wants its own paperwork. Our draft is what you negotiate from, so that when you fill the official form in, you're transcribing decisions you've already made instead of arguing in a parking lot.

Official New Jersey form →

What goes in a New Jersey parenting plan

Decision-Making Authority

States which parent decides what, in the four areas courts ask about: education, non-emergency health care, religion, and extracurricular activities.

Parenting Schedule

The regular, repeating schedule — where the child sleeps each night. Courts want a schedule specific enough that a stranger could read it and know where the child is tonight.

Holidays and School Breaks

Holiday terms override the regular schedule. Alternating by odd and even years is the most common approach because it needs no negotiation each year.

Transportation and Exchanges

Where the handoff happens, who drives, and what happens when someone is late. Vague exchange terms are the single most common source of repeat conflict.

Communication

How the parents talk to each other, and how the child reaches the parent they're not with. Many states expect the plan to name the method and the response time.

Relocation

What happens if a parent wants to move. Most states impose their own notice requirements and distance thresholds on top of whatever the plan says.

Dispute Resolution

The step both parents take before going back to court. Several states require a plan to name one.

Children's Expenses

How costs beyond child support get split and reimbursed. Child support itself is set by your state's guidelines and is not part of this document.

Schedules that work in New Jersey

Other states