Arizona Parenting Plan Playbook

Your Family’s Roadmap to Peace: Understanding the Arizona Parenting Plan 

We know that when big changes happen in your family, you want to make sure your kids feel safe, loved, and secure. Creating a Parenting Plan is the best way to do that! 

Your parenting plan is the roadmap that you and your co-parent create together to guide your family into the future. It’s all about making your children’s needs the top priority. It provides the clarity and consistency that you and your children need to adjust in the best way possible. 

At The Aurit Center, we believe families deserve a peaceful divorce process that protects everyone’s well-being. We help Arizona families create unique parenting plans in Divorce Mediation—a calm, collaborative process that keeps you out of court and focuses on what’s best for your kids. We’re here to guide you every step of the way!

To help you better understand the process, let’s take an in-depth look at what is included in a parenting plan.

What Exactly is a Parenting Plan?

In Arizona, when parents separate or divorce, the law requires them to spell out how they’ll share the job of raising their kids. This written agreement is the Parenting Plan. It’s important because it:

• Creates Clarity: Everyone knows what to expect, which prevents confusion down the road. 
• Focuses on Kids: It ensures the children’s needs—emotional, physical, and developmental—are the priority and are met consistently.
• Keeps Things Peaceful: When co-parents work together in mediation and make the Parenting Plan together, it reduces conflict and sets them up for successful co-parenting for years to come.

The requirement for a plan is written in the law! You can see the details in the Arizona Revised Statutes Title 25.

The 4 Main Parts of Your Family’s Roadmap

A strong Parenting Plan covers the important parts of your children’s lives. An expert mediator can help you identify any additional topics, such as meeting any special needs your kids might have. Then, they will guide you both in reaching agreements to meet those needs. Here are the four key areas all parenting plans include:

Parenting Time (The Schedule)

This is the schedule for when the children spend time with each parent. It’s more than just weekdays and weekends!

• The Regular Schedule: Who has the kids when? This includes overnight plans.
• Special Days: You’ll plan for holidays, school breaks (like Fall, Winter, and Spring break), birthdays, and family traditions so there are no surprises.
• Kids Change, Plans Change: We help you make a plan that works for a toddler, a middle-schooler, and a teenager because their needs change as they grow up!
• Transportation: Distance between parents’ homes and school locations.

Legal Decision-Making (The Big Choices)

This part determines how you and your co-parent will make important choices about your children’s lives.

• Sharing Decisions: Do you make decisions together (Joint Decision-Making) or will one parent handle certain areas (Sole Decision-Making)? Courts in Arizona usually like it when parents work together, but either way, we help you figure out what’s best.
• Decision Areas: This covers things like where your child goes to school, what doctors they see, and what kind of extracurricular activities (like sports or music lessons) they do.
• Arizona Court Considerations: Courts favor agreements that prioritize the child’s best interests while maintaining parental cooperation.
• Flexibility: Plans should anticipate changes in schedules, schooling, or the children’s needs.

To learn more about Arizona Law, you can visit Arizona Revised Statutes Title 25, Sections 403 & 403.03

Financial Responsibilities (for the Children)

Raising kids costs money! This part of the plan makes it clear who pays for what.

• Child Support: Arizona uses a special formula to figure out the basic financial support needed. In mediation, you can choose to follow the calculator’s amount or come up with your own agreement.
• Medical, Educational, and Extracurricular Expenses: Specify who pays what.
• Unexpected Expenses: Emergency medical bills, school trips, or tutoring.
• Proportional Splits: You may choose to pay for things in proportion to your incomes (example – 65%/35% allocation to match relative incomes).
• Extra Costs: You’ll decide how to split expenses for things like braces, school trips, and after-school clubs (like 50/50, or a split based on your incomes).

(You can find the official rules for financial support in the Arizona Child Support Guidelines)

Communication & Conflict (The Playbook) 

This section is one of the most important for keeping the peace! It’s the “how-to” guide for talking with each other.

• How to Talk: Will you use email, text, or a Co-Parenting App? Using an app like OurFamilyWizard (which records communication and schedules) can be a huge help!
• Response Times: You can agree on how quickly you’ll respond to non-emergency messages (like, “I’ll reply within 24 hours”).
• Boundaries and Protocols: You will set guidelines for sensitive topics or decision-making discussions.
• Dealing with Disagreements: A great plan includes a step for resolving disagreements before they turn into a major problem, often by agreeing to use mediation before calling a lawyer.

Relocation & Travel Provisions

Parenting plans also account for potential moves and travel:

• Laws about Relocation: Notices and court approval requirements for out-of-state moves.
• Vacations and Temporary Relocation: Advance notice, travel itineraries, and consent procedures.
• International Travel: A plan might include when and why travel might take place. How far in advance the other parent must be notified. As well as who will be responsible for passports and travel costs. You might even include a communication schedule for the kids to talk with the non-traveling parent.

Flexibility & Future-Proofing

Parenting plans should be adaptable because kids’ needs change over time. You might need to:

• Adjust schedules as children’s ages, parental work, or relationship commitments change.
• Plan ahead of anticipated changes. Some people do a review every 6 months or every year. 
• Plan for unforeseen life events like remarriage, relocation, or arising special needs.

Arizona-Specific Things to Know

• 60-day Waiting Period: Arizona law requires waiting periods before finalizing divorce agreements.
• County-Specific Rules: Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties may have unique filing procedures.
• Community Property: Community property is a legal term for most assets and debts that a couple acquires together while they are married. It generally means that anything you and your spouse earn, buy, or owe during your marriage belongs to both of you equally, even if only one person’s name is on the title or the loan.
• Special Situations: Unique circumstances, like those of military families, will have unique issues to address and may have additional requirements. 

Common Oversights in Parenting Plans

Parents often miss important elements:

• Holidays or special occasions.
• Communication protocols.
• Inclusion of flexibility for future changes.

Making Things As Easy as Possible for Your Kids 

One of the main reasons you’re doing this hard work is for your children! The goal of the Parenting Plan is to give your kids a life that feels stable and consistent—even though things are changing. Here’s how you can support them through the process:

Talk with Them at the Right Level 

• Explain Simply and Clearly. Use words your child understands based on their age. You don’t need to give them all the details. Just focus on the schedule and the fun things they’ll be doing with each parent. A young child might just need to know, “Monday we’re at Mom’s house, and Thursday we go to Dad’s house.”
• Keep it Positive. Remind them that both parents will always love them very much, and that you will both work together to make sure they get to spend plenty of time with everyone.

Help Them with Their Feelings 

• Transitions Can Be Tough. Even with the best possible schedule, kids might feel sad, confused, or even a little worried when they switch houses. Tell them it’s okay to feel that way! Keep transitions calm and encourage your kids to enjoy their time with the other parent. 

• Listen to Understand Rather Than Fix. As parents, we want to ‘make everything better’ for our kids. But often what they really need is for us to really listen to how they are feeling. Listen carefully, without interrupting, and say things like, “I hear you, I know you miss Dad right now, and that’s totally understandable,” or “I can hear that you’re excited to see Mom, but a little sad to leave your friend. I get it.” This helps them feel heard and understood.

Get Extra Help When You Need It 

• It’s Okay to Ask for Support! Sometimes a kid needs a safe space to talk about their feelings – that isn’t Mom or Dad. A counselor or therapist can be an extremely helpful, neutral person for your child to talk to. School counselors are also a great resource if you think your child might need a little extra support. 

Good News: Decades of research show that when parents use mediation and create a clear, structured plan, it really helps children feel less stressed and happier in the long run! Agreements created together are more likely to be followed, which helps you both stay close with your kids. You are doing a great job by thoughtfully working together to create your personalized roadmap.

More Helpful Information

• Divorce Mediation Services
• Child Custody Mediation
• Cost of Divorce Mediation vs Litigation
• Emotional Wellness During Divorce

What Comes Next?

A Parenting Plan is a roadmap to provide consistent stability and security for your kids. It’s the foundation of healthy children cooperative co-parenting which is what your children need as they adjust. 

At The Aurit Center, our caring mediators guide parents through every turn, and make sure all Arizona requirements are met.

Schedule a free online consultation today for you and your spouse to hear about how you can create a Parenting Plan that meets your children’s needs. Peaceful co-parenting relationships are possible even when you don’t see eye to eye, and they begin in divorce mediation.

Remember, studies tell us that it isn’t divorce itself that is harmful to kids, it’s seeing their parents in conflict that does real damage. The good news is, the two of you are in control of how your divorce will unfold. And it all begins with which divorce process you choose. Mediation is the peaceful path forward.