Build a Pennsylvania Parenting Plan.
Pennsylvania custody orders increasingly include detailed written parenting plans — particularly in shared physical custody arrangements and high-decision-making cases. A clear plan reduces friction, narrows the universe of disputes, and gives the court a concrete agreement to enforce. This template walks through the sections most parenting plans address. Fill in what you know; leave the rest. The preview at the bottom rebuilds itself as you go.
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Parties & Children
The parents and the children covered by this plan. For privacy, enter first names only for the parents and initials only for the children. The plan output reflects exactly what you type.
Type of Physical Custody
Physical custody is the schedule — where the children sleep on which nights and during what blocks of time. Pennsylvania recognizes shared physical custody (roughly equal time), primary physical custody (one parent has the larger share), partial physical custody, sole physical custody, and supervised physical custody. The category here frames the schedule that follows.
Regular School-Year Schedule
The repeating week-by-week pattern. Common Pennsylvania patterns appear below; choose one to insert standard language into the plan, or pick Custom and describe in your own words. The 2-2-5-5 description below is the version most commonly entered as an Allegheny County order.
Holiday Schedule
Holidays generally override the regular schedule. The standard Allegheny County practice is to alternate major holidays by year (one parent in odd years, the other in even years) and to fix some holidays with one parent each year (Mother's Day with Mother, Father's Day with Father). Pick the option that matches your agreement for each holiday.
Summer & School Breaks
Summer often follows a different rhythm than the school year — longer connected blocks of time, vacation weeks, and modified schedules. Spring break and winter break are typically alternated.
Legal Custody (Decision-Making)
Legal custody is decision-making authority over the children's lives — education, healthcare, religion, extracurricular activities, mental health treatment, travel, and childcare. Joint legal custody is the most common allocation, but specific authority may be assigned to one parent. Day-to-day decisions during a parent's custodial time generally remain with that parent.
Communication Between Parents and With Children
How the parents communicate with each other about the children, and how the children communicate with the parent they are not currently with. Co-parenting apps such as OurFamilyWizard, TalkingParents, and 2Houses are increasingly common and create a written record.
Transportation Between Homes
Who transports the children between homes for the regular schedule, holidays, and vacation. The default in many plans is that the receiving parent picks up; other arrangements split or alternate the responsibility.
Right of First Refusal
A right of first refusal requires that if one parent will be unavailable for the children for a stated period during their custodial time, that parent must offer the time to the other parent before arranging substitute care. Whether to include this provision and at what threshold is a frequent point of negotiation.
Dispute Resolution
When the parents disagree on a matter the plan does not clearly resolve, what happens before either party files for court relief. Mediation is a common first step; some plans designate a parenting coordinator. Emergency matters typically bypass any pre-court step.
Additional Provisions
Any other terms the parties agree to include — relocation notice requirements, introduction of new partners to the children, social media references, school enrollment authority, attendance at events, anything specific to the case.
Parenting Plan
Pennsylvania Parenting Plan Notes
Pennsylvania law does not prescribe a single format for a parenting plan. The terms a plan must address are set by what your case actually requires — some plans run two pages, others run twenty. The sections in this template cover the issues that come up in most contested matters and most stipulated orders in Allegheny County. The output is a starting draft, not a finished order.
Once a plan is reduced to writing and signed by the parties, it can be incorporated into a stipulated custody order, attached to a Marital Settlement Agreement at the time of divorce, or filed with the court as the basis for a consent order. Once entered as an order, the terms become enforceable. A subsequent material change in circumstances is required to modify a custody order; mere disagreement with terms after the fact is generally not sufficient.
For high-conflict cases, parents with safety concerns, and cases involving complex decision-making allocations or relocation, working with counsel to draft and review the plan before filing is generally advisable. For straightforward shared-custody cases between cooperative parents, a clear written plan often heads off the disputes that would otherwise drive parents back to court.
Allegheny County context
Custody matters in Allegheny County are heard at the Family Law Center, 440 Ross Street. Conciliations are scheduled with a Custody Hearing Officer; contested matters that do not resolve at conciliation proceed to trial before a Family Division judge. The Generations program (currently administered remotely via Microsoft Teams) is required for parents in custody matters as part of the early case process. A signed parenting plan is often the centerpiece of a stipulated order coming out of conciliation.
Important — Read This
This template is a planning and drafting tool. The output is a draft you can use to organize your thinking, structure a settlement conversation, or share with counsel; it is not a substitute for legal advice and does not constitute legal advice. Use of this tool does not create an attorney-client relationship with the Law Offices of Scott L. Levine, LLC. Before signing any parenting plan or filing a stipulated order, consult with a licensed Pennsylvania family law attorney about the specific facts and law of your matter. Pennsylvania custody law continues to develop — including under Act 11 of 2025 (effective August 29, 2025) for cases filed on or after that date — and any output should be reviewed against current law.
This tool is provided "as is" for educational and informational purposes only. The Law Offices of Scott L. Levine, LLC makes no warranties — express, implied, or otherwise — regarding the accuracy, completeness, or applicability of any output to any specific case. No user should rely on the output to make legal, financial, or strategic decisions without independent review by a licensed Pennsylvania attorney familiar with the specific facts of the matter.
Your data never leaves your device. This tool runs entirely in your browser. We do not save, store, transmit, view, or monitor anything you enter. Nothing is sent to the firm or any third party. There is no analytics tracking of inputs.
Do not enter sensitive identifiers. Even though the tool doesn't transmit your data, the safer practice is to avoid entering Social Security numbers, account numbers, passwords, or other sensitive personal identifiers. The tool works fine with rounded figures and approximations.
Pennsylvania-specific. Calculations, statutory references, and guidance reflect Pennsylvania law with an emphasis on Allegheny County practice. If you live or are filing in another state, consult an attorney licensed in your own jurisdiction; the outputs here will not apply to you.
Not for use at trial. These tools are educational aids designed to help users prepare for conversations with counsel. They are not intended for use as evidence at trial, in negotiation, or in any adversarial proceeding. Use them in conjunction with professional legal services from an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.
Not legal advice. This tool is educational. Using it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Pennsylvania family law — statutes, guidelines, and local rules — changes regularly; rely on advice from a licensed attorney before making any legal decision.