Missouri’s official parenting plan template is Form CAFC501, available free on the Missouri Courts self-help website. It walks you through the three parts every parenting plan must contain under state law: a residential schedule, a decision-making framework, and a financial plan.1Missouri Courts. Parenting Plan Part B Form CAFC501 Each section has specific sub-requirements written into the statute, and a judge will send the plan back if any are missing. The form exists so you don’t have to draft the document from scratch, but you still have to fill in real answers. Vague language is the fastest way to end up back in court.
Both parents must file a proposed parenting plan within 30 days after the other parent is served with the petition or files an appearance, whichever comes first. You can file a joint plan if you agree, or each submit your own version for the judge to decide between. The requirement applies in any case involving custody or visitation, including divorce, legal separation, and paternity actions.2Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Revised Statutes 452.310 – Petition, Contents, Parenting Plans Submitted, When, Content, Exception
The Residential Schedule
The residential schedule is the backbone of the plan, and it must account for every day of the year. That means going well past a basic “every other weekend” arrangement. The statute requires you to address each of the following:
- Weekly rotation: Which days and overnights the child spends with each parent during a typical school week and weekend.
- Major holidays: A year-by-year designation of who has the child for each major holiday.
- School breaks: How winter, spring, and summer vacations are divided for school-age children.
- Special days: The child’s birthday, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day.
- Exchange logistics: The specific times and locations where the child transfers between households, plus how transportation duties are shared.
- Phone and video access: When and how the child can communicate with the parent they are not currently with.
- Temporary changes: A procedure for requesting short-term deviations from the regular schedule.
If you and the other parent live in different school districts, the plan should make clear how the commuting burden is shared on school days. Judges want specificity. A plan that says the parents “will work it out” for holiday scheduling almost always gets rejected. Pin down dates, pickup times, and drop-off locations so neither parent is left guessing.2Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Revised Statutes 452.310 – Petition, Contents, Parenting Plans Submitted, When, Content, Exception
Legal Custody and Decision-Making
Missouri distinguishes between physical custody, meaning where the child lives, and legal custody, meaning who makes the big decisions. Your parenting plan must spell out how decision-making authority is allocated across several specific categories:
- Education: Which schools the child attends, how school information is shared with both parents, and who decides on special education services or school transfers.
- Healthcare: How medical, dental, and mental health providers are selected, how emergency care is handled, and how both parents stay informed about the child’s medical conditions.
- Extracurricular activities: How you decide which activities the child participates in, especially when those activities fall during the other parent’s scheduled time.
- Childcare: How daycare or after-school care providers are chosen.
You can agree to share these decisions equally, give one parent final say in certain categories, or split authority so that one parent handles education while the other handles healthcare. If you’re proposing that one parent make all decisions alone, the plan must include a written explanation of why shared decision-making would not work.2Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Revised Statutes 452.310 – Petition, Contents, Parenting Plans Submitted, When, Content, Exception
The plan must also include a dispute resolution procedure. This is how you handle it when you and the other parent disagree about a decision or read the plan differently. Most plans designate mediation as the first step, with one parent having tiebreaker authority if mediation fails. Leaving this section vague creates the exact kind of conflict the plan is supposed to prevent.
Child Support and Financial Obligations
A parenting plan is not just about scheduling. Missouri requires it to address how you will pay for the child’s expenses, including childcare, educational costs, and what the state calls “extraordinary expenses” like sports fees, music lessons, and private school tuition.
Form 14: The Child Support Calculation
Every parenting plan must include a proposed child support amount, and courts expect that number to come from Form 14, the state’s official child support calculation worksheet. Both parents complete the form using their income, and the resulting figure is treated as the presumed correct amount of support. The completed Form 14 gets attached to the final judgment.3Missouri Courts. Form 14 – Child Support Amount Calculation Worksheet
Extraordinary child-rearing costs, including extracurricular activities, summer camps, and tuition, are added to the base support obligation and split between parents in proportion to their respective incomes. If one parent earns 65% of the combined household income, that parent covers 65% of those costs. For any extraordinary expense to be included in the calculation, both parents must agree to it or the court must order it.
Health Insurance
Missouri courts must require that a child be covered under a private health plan whenever one is available at a reasonable cost through either parent’s employer. The plan should identify which parent carries the insurance and how premiums affect the support calculation. For medical and dental expenses not covered by insurance, the court can order the other parent to pay all or part of the balance, provided that parent has the financial ability to do so.4Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 454.603 – Health Benefit Plan May Be Required
How the Judge Will Evaluate What You File
Every parenting plan passes through a single legal filter: the best interests of the child. When parents cannot agree and the judge has to decide, the court weighs eight statutory factors:
- Each parent’s wishes and their proposed plan
- The child’s need for a frequent and meaningful relationship with both parents, and each parent’s willingness to support that relationship
- The child’s relationship with parents, siblings, and other significant people
- Which parent is more likely to allow continuing contact with the other parent
- The child’s adjustment to home, school, and community
- The mental and physical health of everyone involved, including any history of abuse
- Either parent’s intention to relocate
- The child’s own preference, expressed without coaching or pressure
Missouri law now includes a rebuttable presumption that equal or approximately equal parenting time is in the child’s best interests. That presumption can be overcome only by a preponderance of the evidence based on the eight factors above, or if the court finds a pattern of domestic violence, or if the parents have already reached their own agreement on a different arrangement.5Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 452.375 – Custody
The presumption does not guarantee a 50/50 split. It means the starting point favors it, and the parent arguing for a different schedule carries the burden of proving why. Practical realities like distance between homes, work schedules, and school commitments often produce arrangements that are close to equal without being perfectly symmetrical. Draft your residential schedule with the presumption in mind, and if you want something other than an even split, build the reasons into the plan itself.
Filing the Plan
Once your plan is complete, you file it with the circuit clerk in the county where your case is pending. Missouri courts use the Missouri eFiling System for electronic submissions. If you are representing yourself and don’t have internet access, most courthouses still accept paper filings at the clerk’s window.
Filing fees for domestic relations cases with children vary by county but generally fall in the range of $130 to $200. If you cannot afford the fee, you can ask the court to waive it by filing a motion to proceed without payment, sometimes called an In Forma Pauperis motion. You’ll need to provide financial information showing that paying the fee would create a hardship.
If both parents submit a joint plan and the judge finds it satisfies the statutory requirements, approval can happen without a hearing. The judge reviews the terms, confirms that the arrangement reflects the child’s best interests, and signs the order. Once signed, the parenting plan becomes a binding court order. Violating it can result in contempt proceedings, which carry the possibility of fines or jail time.6Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 476.120 – Punishment for Contempt
When the Two Plans Don’t Match
If you and the other parent file competing plans and cannot negotiate a resolution, the court steps in.
Many Missouri circuits offer mediation services at no cost to parents in dispute over custody or visitation. A neutral mediator helps both sides work through disagreements and try to reach a compromise before the case goes to a full hearing. Some circuits order mediation as a required step; others make it available on request. A mediated agreement that both parents sign carries the same weight as a plan negotiated by attorneys.
The court may also appoint a guardian ad litem to represent your child’s interests in any contested custody proceeding. In cases involving allegations of abuse or neglect, the appointment is mandatory. The guardian ad litem interviews the child, talks to teachers and doctors, and presents findings to the judge, and has authority to call witnesses and cross-examine at trial. Parents pay the guardian ad litem’s fees, and the court can order either or both parents to cover the reasonable amount it sets.7Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 452.423 – Guardian Ad Litem, Appointment, Duties, Fees
If mediation fails or is not ordered, the judge schedules a hearing where each parent presents evidence supporting their proposed plan. Witnesses, school records, and work schedules all come into play. The judge applies the eight best-interests factors, makes written findings, and enters a custody order that incorporates a parenting plan. That order controls until it is formally modified.