Texas

Texas Parenting Plan template

Texas vocabulary is unlike any other state: parents are 'conservators' (usually Joint Managing Conservators), time is 'possession and access', and the statutory default is the Standard Possession Order — commonly 1st/3rd/5th weekends. Plans are written as the SPO, an Expanded SPO, or an agreed variation.

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The words Texas uses

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

• The document is called a Parenting Plan.
• Time with a child is possession and access.
• Decision-making authority is conservatorship.
• Governing law: Tex. Fam. Code § 153.252 (Standard Possession Order).

What goes in a Texas 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 Texas

Other states