The Truth About Creating A Successful Parenting Plan in Ontario!

The Truth About Creating A Successful Parenting Plan in Ontario!

Now for the first time in Ontario family law, a parenting plan for your children is taking a more important role in resolving parenting time and decision-making issues and questions for your children.

Hi, my name is Thomas O’Malley.  I’m an experienced family lawyer in Durham Region and the GTA.

A parenting plan is a written document that outlines an agreement that you and your former spouse make about how you will raise your children after your separation or divorce.

A parenting plan deals with these important issues:

-when the child will spend time with each parent

-how decisions about the child are made

-how information is shared and communicated between parents

-how other parenting issues may be handled; and

-how future disagreements between parents about the children are to be resolved

Your parenting plan should have enough detail to be useful, yet have enough flexibility to be realistic, and to meet the changing needs of the children involved. 

A parenting plan should reflect the interests and the needs of each child concerned.  It is almost inevitable that your parenting plan will have to be revised as your children grow older, and their needs and the circumstances of you and your former spouse change.

Your parenting plan is best viewed as a working document that will need to be revisited and likely revised over time.

Your parenting plan can help to reduce future arguments and conflict between you and your former spouse by setting out clear guidelines and expectations for behavior.

Reducing conflict between separated parents is very important.  Children do significantly better when their parents co-operate and communicate with each other and conflict is low.

A solid parenting plan can reduce conflict by clearing describing guidelines and expectations and can help lower the friction between parents so that each parent can support their child’s relationship with the other parent.

A parenting plan that you and your former spouse have voluntarily made can be put into a court order or separation agreement.  This gives your parenting plan legal significance and makes it enforceable by the Ontario court. 

If communication or co-operation with the other parent is not easy, a good parenting plan can provide the details of the parenting arrangements so that the parents are not required to negotiate every decision that needs to be made.

While co-operation between parents and voluntarily made agreements are usually best for children, in cases where there are ongoing violence concerns or one parent has serious mental health or substance abuse issues, voluntary agreements and arrangements may not be appropriate.

In such cases, a court order might be required to deal with the risk of harm to children.  

As well, you can only have a jointly-made parenting plan when both parents are willing and able to communicate, co-operate and make child-focused plans.

If you have any questions about your separation, divorce or family law case and you would like our help, there’s a few ways to contact our office.  You can leave a message on my Facebook law office page, visit my website at www.canadiandivorcelegaladvice.com, or call me directly at 905-434-8837. 

We would be happy to speak to you.

Oh, by the way, did you know you can protect your family law rights and get essential information on settling your family law issues with your former spouse with the daily indispensable family law advice and tips at my FREE Facebook group? 

Click here to find out more: Durham Region Separation and Divorce Legal Support Group  

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