GLASTONBURY, CONNECTICUT · FAMILY LAW + FAMILY-VIOLENCE DEFENSE
The parenting plan is the document that actually governs daily life after a divorce or custody case. The custody labels get the attention; the plan determines who has the children on Thanksgiving in 2031.
C.G.S. §46b-56a(d) requires parents in a dispute over a minor child to file a proposed parental responsibility plan, and sets out what it must contain at a minimum: a residence schedule; how decisions about health, education and religious upbringing are allocated; how disputes get resolved; how failures to honour the plan are handled; how the plan accommodates the child’s changing needs; and how it minimises the child’s exposure to parental conflict. The filing itself is governed by Practice Book §25-30 and Judicial Branch form JD-FM-199.
Decision-making. Who decides what, which decisions require agreement, and what happens when parents disagree — a real dispute-resolution step, not a hope.
The regular schedule, written so that any adult could read it and know where the children are on a given day.
Holidays, school vacations, and summer. The most-litigated section, because the regular schedule stops applying and nobody wrote down what replaces it.
Transportation and exchanges. Who drives, where, and what happens when someone is late.
Communication— between parents, and between each parent and the children during the other’s time.
Travel, including notice requirements and out-of-state or international trips.
Changes and make-up time, so ordinary life does not require a motion.
“Reasonable and liberal visitation” sounds cooperative and generous. It is the single most common source of post-judgment conflict in family court, because it means whatever each parent wants it to mean on a bad week.
Specificity is kindness here. A plan that spells out exchange times and holiday rotations is not hostile — it removes the opportunities to argue and gives both parents something to rely on.
There is no default and no preferred schedule in Connecticut. What works depends on the children’s ages, the distance between homes, each parent’s work, and how much direct communication the parents can manage.
Equal-time arrangements work well where parents live close, communicate without difficulty, and have children whose schedules can absorb the movement. They work badly where any of those is missing — and a plan that looks fair on paper but requires more cooperation than the parents have will end up back in court.
A schedule designed for a five-year-old rarely fits a fifteen-year-old with a job, a sport, and opinions of their own. Building in a review point, or simply expecting to revisit it, is realistic rather than pessimistic.
Changing parenting time alone does not require proving a material change in circumstances — the court looks at the child’s best interests. That makes schedule adjustments more accessible than custody changes.
How to change a Connecticut custody, child support, or alimony order after judgment — the substantial change standard, and why filing early matters.
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Parenting orders are enforceable by the same contempt process as financial orders. What courts can do when a schedule is not being followed.
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Connecticut custody attorney Daniel M. Morton on legal and physical custody, parenting plans, relocation, and how judges decide. Glastonbury office.
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Every case starts with a conversation about what you’re facing and what it would take to handle it.
