Tennessee

Tennessee Permanent Parenting Plan template

Tennessee requires a Permanent Parenting Plan on the state's own form in every case with minor children — it must designate a primary residential parent, allocate residential time by day count, and specify a dispute-resolution process.

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The words Tennessee uses

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

• The document is called a Permanent Parenting Plan.
• Time with a child is residential time.
• Decision-making authority is decision-making authority.
• Governing law: Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-6-404.

Tennessee requires its own form

Tennessee courts use Permanent Parenting Plan Order. 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 Tennessee form →

What goes in a Tennessee permanent 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 Tennessee

Other states