The Colorado parenting plan template is Form JDF 1113, a free fillable PDF from the Colorado Judicial Branch that covers everything state law requires: parenting time schedules, decision-making authority, holidays, and communication rules.1Colorado Judicial Branch. Parenting Plan Colorado calls the framework the “Allocation of Parental Responsibilities” rather than custody, and the form is used in every divorce, legal separation, or standalone custody case involving a child under nineteen. Fill it out, both parents sign, file it with the court, and once a judge signs the order it is binding.
What the Template Asks You to Decide
JDF 1113 splits parenting responsibilities into two separate questions, mirroring Colorado Revised Statutes Section 14-10-124: who makes major decisions, and where the child sleeps on any given night.2Justia Law. Colorado Code 14-10-124 – Best Interests of the Child
For decision-making, the form lists six categories and asks you to designate each one as joint, sole to one parent, or divided by topic:3Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 1113 – Parenting Plan
- School and education, including enrollment, district, tutoring, and special-education placement
- Medical, dental, and mental health, including choice of providers and non-emergency procedures
- Religious activities and upbringing
- Extracurricular and recreational activities
- Passport authorization
- Two “Other” fields for anything else you want to pin down
For parenting time, the form requires a specific written schedule for the school year, summer, and each of fourteen listed holidays, including spring break, Thanksgiving, winter break, each parent’s birthday celebration, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. Every holiday gets an even-year, odd-year, or every-year assignment. You also enter the total annual overnights each parent has, a figure that feeds directly into Colorado child support calculations.
How to Complete JDF 1113
Download the current version from the Colorado Judicial Branch website. The form was last revised in December 2025 and can be typed into directly as a PDF.1Colorado Judicial Branch. Parenting Plan Before you start, have each child’s full name, date of birth, current address, and sex. The form does not ask for Social Security numbers.
The caption at the top needs the county, court address, and case number. If this is a new standalone custody petition rather than part of an existing divorce, the case number is assigned when you file the petition.
Section 4 is where many parents stall. Choose one of three options: full agreement, partial agreement with blanks left for unresolved items, or no agreement with each parent filing a separate plan. Partial or no agreement puts a notice on the form itself that the court may order mediation.3Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 1113 – Parenting Plan
The schedule sections demand real specifics. Not “every other weekend” but the actual days, start and end times, exchange location, and who is driving. The form has separate fields for transfer logistics. Vague wording is the single biggest source of fights after the decree, because each parent reads the ambiguity in their own favor.
Section 8 sets baseline rules that run in the background: routine daily decisions stay with whichever parent has the child at the time, either parent can authorize emergency medical care, both parents share healthcare provider contact information, and both can access school and health records unless a court order says otherwise.3Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 1113 – Parenting Plan
Both parents sign. Notarization is not required. Once signed, the plan is ready to file.
Provisions Worth Adding Beyond the Template
JDF 1113 covers the legal minimum. The open “Other” fields and narrative sections let you build in terms the form itself does not prompt for.
Right of First Refusal
If you cannot be with the child during your scheduled time, a right of first refusal makes you offer that time to the other parent before calling a sitter. Set a trigger (often four to six hours, or any overnight), state how the offer is made and how fast the other parent has to answer, and carve out exceptions like school and daycare hours.
Dispute Resolution Ladder
Colorado courts can refer cases to mediation, but a parent who has experienced physical or psychological abuse can decline it by informing the court.4FindLaw. Colorado Code 13-22-311 – Courts and Court Procedure Even without a court order, you can write your own ladder into the plan: direct discussion first, mediation within a set number of days if that fails, parenting coordinator or arbitrator last. For narrow issues some parents name the child’s doctor as the tiebreaker on medical questions, or the school counselor on educational ones.
Travel and Communication
The template has a travel and vacations section, but be explicit about how much advance notice is required for out-of-state and international trips, whether an itinerary and contact information must be shared, and what happens to the other parent’s time if a trip eats into it. For communication, set a daily window for calls or video, state that calls are not monitored, and prohibit disparaging remarks about the other parent in front of the child. If you and the other parent struggle to communicate, route non-emergency contact through a co-parenting app or email so there is a written record.
What a Judge Looks For
A judge will not approve a plan just because both parents signed it. Every plan has to serve the child’s best interests, with safety at the top. The court weighs each parent’s wishes, the child’s wishes if the child is mature enough, existing relationships with each parent and siblings, how settled the child is in home and school, the mental and physical health of everyone involved, each parent’s willingness to encourage the child’s bond with the other, past involvement, how close the parents live, and each parent’s ability to put the child first.2Justia Law. Colorado Code 14-10-124 – Best Interests of the Child A disability on its own cannot be used to restrict parenting time, and courts are directed not to apply these factors with bias based on religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, or disability.
If domestic violence, child abuse, or neglect has been alleged, the court evaluates those claims first. Where abuse is found by a preponderance of the evidence, joint decision-making generally will not be ordered over the other parent’s objection.
Filing the Plan and the Fees
Take the signed JDF 1113 to the Clerk of Court in the county where your case is filed. Filing fees depend on the case type:5Colorado Judicial Branch. List of Fees
- Standalone custody petition (Allocation of Parental Responsibilities): $252
- Divorce or legal separation petition: $260
- Response to either: $146
- Post-decree motion to modify: $105
If you cannot afford the fee, file Form JDF 205 to ask the court to waive it. You qualify if your household income is below 125 percent of the federal poverty line or you receive certain public benefits such as SNAP, SSI, or TANF. For a family of four in 2026, the income cutoff is $51,563 per year.6Colorado Judicial Branch. Fee Waivers
Once filed, a judge or magistrate reviews the plan against the best interests factors. If both parents agree and nothing raises a safety concern, approval is usually straightforward. If parents disagree or filed separate plans, the court may order mediation.3Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 1113 – Parenting Plan If mediation does not resolve things, the court sets a hearing and decides. Once the judge signs, the plan is enforceable and violating it can result in contempt.
Privacy in the Court File
Your parenting plan becomes part of the public court file. JDF 1113 asks for children’s names, addresses, dates of birth, and sex, but not for Social Security numbers or financial account numbers.3Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 1113 – Parenting Plan If other filings in your case include sensitive identifiers, ask the clerk about redaction or filing under seal. Keeping personal data out of the public record is your responsibility, not the clerk’s.
Changing the Plan After It Is Signed
A signed order is not permanent, but modifying it is harder than writing the original. To change decision-making responsibility, the parent asking for the change must show that circumstances have genuinely changed since the original order and that the change serves the child’s best interests.7Justia Law. Colorado Code 14-10-131 – Modification of Custody or Decision-Making Responsibility If a modification motion has already been filed and resolved, you generally cannot file another one for two years, unless the court finds based on sworn statements that the current arrangement may endanger the child’s physical health or significantly impair the child’s emotional development.
The court will keep the existing arrangement unless both parents agree, the child has been integrated into the other parent’s household with consent, a parenting time change warrants a decision-making adjustment, one parent has consistently deferred decisions to the other, or the current arrangement endangers the child. Simply wanting more time, or disliking the other parent’s choices, is not enough. Modifying the parenting time schedule itself follows a related but separate process under Section 14-10-129, and the filing fee for any post-decree modification motion is $105.5Colorado Judicial Branch. List of Fees
Moving With the Child
If you plan to move somewhere that substantially changes the geographic ties between the child and the other parent, Colorado has specific rules. There is no fixed mileage cutoff; the test is whether the move meaningfully disrupts the child’s relationship with the other parent. Across town, probably not. Across the state or out of state, almost certainly yes.
The relocating parent must give the other parent written notice as soon as practicable, including the new address, the reason for the move, and a proposed revised parenting time schedule. If the other parent objects, the court holds a priority hearing and considers the reason for the move, the reason for the objection, each parent’s relationship with the child since the last order, educational opportunities at both locations, extended family at both locations, the advantages of staying with the primary caregiver, the anticipated impact on the child, and whether a workable schedule can still be built.8Justia Law. Colorado Code 14-10-129 – Modification of Parenting Time
Moving without notice, or before the court rules, is one of the fastest ways to lose credibility with a judge. File the notice, propose a detailed revised schedule, and show you have thought about how the child keeps a real relationship with the other parent.