Ohio Shared Parenting Plan PDF: Form 20 Filing and Changes

Ohio’s shared parenting plan PDF is Uniform Domestic Relations Form 20, a fillable form published by the Ohio Supreme Court that both parents (or one parent alone) use to propose how they will share physical custody, decision-making, and financial responsibility for their children. Once a judge signs it, the plan becomes a binding court order, so the details you write into the blanks matter.

Where to Download Form 20

Form 20 is available as a fillable PDF directly from the Ohio Supreme Court.¹ The Court also hosts a full index of the standardized domestic relations forms, and most county clerk of courts offices either mirror the PDF or link to it.² Some counties layer their own local forms on top of Form 20, so check with the clerk in the county where the case is pending before you file.

One quick correction people often need: Form 17 is not the parenting plan. Form 17 is the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage.³ In a dissolution with children you file Form 17 along with Form 19 (the separation agreement) and Form 20 (the shared parenting plan). In a divorce, Form 20 can be filed by one or both parents any time before the final hearing.

What You Have to Fill In

The form has three working parts: parents’ rights, allocation of parental rights and responsibilities, and child support. Vague answers or blank fields get sent back.

Parents’ Rights and General Duties

The opening section lists rights each parent keeps: participating in major decisions, telephone contact with the children, selecting health care providers, access to school and medical records, and notice if the other parent plans to move.¹ It also builds in a mutual duty to support the children’s relationship with the other parent and refrain from conduct that would damage it.

Parenting Time, Transportation, and School Designation

You attach a specific parenting time schedule: weekday and weekend rotation, holidays, and summer. A separate section handles transportation, including who does drop-offs and pickups and where exchanges occur.

The field that catches people off guard is school placement. Even in a 50/50 schedule, the plan must name one parent as the residential parent for school district purposes, because Ohio law requires it.⁴ The form also asks who has the final say on educational disputes and how extracurricular costs and driving will be split.

Health Insurance and Medical Costs

Form 20 requires you to say who carries health insurance and who makes binding medical decisions if the parents disagree. Ohio also requires the plan to address uninsured costs. The standard cash medical support figure is $388.70 per child per year, covering copays, deductibles, and other routine uninsured expenses, with both parents contributing in proportion to their share of combined income. Costs above the pool are split as extraordinary medical expenses in the same proportion. Courts only order cash medical support when the paying parent’s gross income exceeds 150% of the federal poverty level. Parents can propose a different split, such as prorating every dollar of uninsured costs from the start, but the court has to approve the deviation.

Child Support

Child support in a shared parenting case is calculated using Ohio’s guideline worksheet and the state’s official online calculator (JFS 07766).⁵ You will need each parent’s gross income from all sources, child care costs, health insurance premiums, any existing support orders, and spousal support. If combined gross income exceeds $336,000, the standard calculator no longer applies and you will need help from an attorney or your local child support enforcement agency.

Shared parenting does not automatically zero out child support. Form 20 recognizes overnight thresholds at 90 and 147 overnights, which can affect the calculation, and it has checkboxes for deviation factors such as special needs, large income disparities, in-kind contributions like directly paying for clothing or sports, and extraordinary travel costs for exchanges.⁶

Joint Plan, Two Plans, or Filing Alone

Ohio law recognizes three ways to bring a shared parenting request to the court.⁴

Both parents file one joint plan. The court approves it if it serves the children’s best interest, or sends it back with required changes. If the parents cannot fix the problems, the court can deny shared parenting altogether.
Each parent files a separate plan. The court can approve one, or pick one and order both parents to revise it. This is common when parents agree on the idea of shared parenting but disagree on the terms.
One parent files alone. The court can order the other parent to submit a plan too, then decide which arrangement, if any, serves the children’s best interest.

You do not need the other parent’s cooperation to ask for shared parenting, but a plan only one parent supports faces closer scrutiny.

Filing the Plan and What Happens Next

File the plan with the Clerk of Courts in the county where the case is pending. Ohio law requires the plan to be on file at least 30 days before the trial or hearing on parental rights.⁴ Filing fees vary by county and depend on whether you are filing with a new dissolution, a new divorce, or a post-decree motion. Expect roughly $165 for a post-decree motion up to $400 or more for an initial divorce filing with children.

After filing, the court sets a hearing. A judge or magistrate reviews the plan, confirms both parents understand its terms, and decides whether it serves the children’s best interest. If specific provisions need work, the court sends the plan back with changes. Once approved, the judge signs a shared parenting decree and the plan becomes an enforceable order.

Guardian Ad Litem

In contested cases, either parent can ask for a guardian ad litem, or the court can appoint one on its own. The GAL interviews the children, observes them with each parent, visits both homes, reviews school and medical records, and talks to teachers and doctors. The GAL then files a recommendation. The judge is not bound by it, but it carries significant influence when the parents’ accounts conflict.

Parenting Classes

Ohio law lets courts require parenting education before finalizing a shared parenting order.⁷ Whether you need to complete one depends on your county. Many require it and will not hold the final hearing until each parent files a certificate. Courses typically cost between $40 and $60 and are often available online. Register early so it does not delay your hearing.

What the Court Is Looking For

The judge applies a best interest analysis under Ohio Revised Code 3109.04(F)(1), weighing each parent’s wishes, the children’s wishes if interviewed in chambers, the children’s relationships and adjustment to home and school, everyone’s mental and physical health, each parent’s willingness to honor parenting time and support the other’s relationship, child support compliance, any history of abuse or domestic violence, willful denial of parenting time, and any plan to move out of state.⁴ A history of domestic violence or child abuse weighs heavily against approval regardless of how the other factors look.

On top of that, Section 3109.04(F)(2) adds shared-parenting-specific factors: whether the parents can cooperate and communicate on decisions, whether either has blocked the other’s parenting time, and whether they live close enough for frequent exchanges to be workable. Hostility alone does not automatically defeat a shared parenting request, but the court will be skeptical that joint decision-making can function when the parents cannot have a civil conversation.

Changing the Plan Later

A shared parenting decree can be modified, but the standard is deliberately strict. The parent seeking the change has to show two things: a meaningful change in circumstances since the original order, and that the change would serve the children’s best interest.⁸

The change has to rest on facts that arose after the decree or that the court did not know about at the time. It must be significant and tied to the children’s wellbeing, not parental convenience. Examples courts have accepted include a parent relocating out of the county or state, documented substance abuse or domestic violence, a serious drop in school performance linked to lack of oversight, and incarceration.

Even after that showing, the court usually defaults to keeping the current residential parent designation unless both parents agree to the change, the children are already integrated into the other parent’s home with consent, or the benefit of changing environments clearly outweighs the disruption.

If You Plan to Move

A residential parent who plans to change addresses must file a notice of intent to relocate with the court that issued the parenting order.⁹ The court forwards the notice to the other parent, and either the court or the non-moving parent can request a hearing on whether the parenting time schedule needs to change. Skipping the notice damages your standing with the judge, and courts have wide discretion to adjust the schedule if the move disrupts the children’s stability.

If the Other Parent Violates the Plan

Once approved, the plan has the force of a court order. If the other parent withholds parenting time, ignores the holiday schedule, or refuses to follow through on agreed responsibilities, you can file a motion for contempt. The Ohio Supreme Court publishes the forms: Motion for Contempt (DR Form 24) and Show Cause Order (DR Form 25).¹⁰

Contempt penalties escalate with repeat violations:¹¹

First violation: up to $250 fine, up to 30 days in jail, or both.
Second violation: up to $500 fine, up to 60 days in jail, or both.
Third or subsequent violation: up to $1,000 fine, up to 90 days in jail, or both.

A pattern of interference can also feed back into a modification, because willful denial of parenting time is one of the best interest factors. Chronic violations can eventually cost the offending parent time or decision-making authority.⁴

Who Claims the Children on Taxes

A shared parenting plan does not by itself decide who claims the children as dependents. Under IRS rules, the custodial parent (the parent with whom the children spent more nights during the year) claims them by default. If overnights are equal, the parent with the higher adjusted gross income is treated as the custodial parent.¹²

Parents can agree to alternate years, or the custodial parent can release the claim to the other parent by signing IRS Form 8332, which the non-custodial parent then attaches to their tax return each year they claim the child. The parent who claims the child is the one eligible for the child tax credit and related credits, so if you have an agreement, write it into the plan itself. If a custodial parent revokes a Form 8332 release and gives notice to the other parent in 2025, the earliest the revocation takes effect is 2026.¹²

1
Supreme Court of Ohio. Uniform Domestic Relations Form 20 – Shared Parenting Plan
2
Supreme Court of Ohio. Domestic Relations and Juvenile Standardized Forms
3
Supreme Court of Ohio. Uniform Domestic Relations Form 17 – Petition for Dissolution of Marriage and Waiver of Service of Summons
4
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 3109.04 – Allocating Parental Rights and Responsibilities for Care of Children – Shared Parenting
5
Ohio Child Support Calculator. Ohio Child Support Calculator
6
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 3119.23 – Factors to Be Considered in Granting a Deviation
7
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 3109.053 – Parenting Classes
8
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code Chapter 3109 – Children
9
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 3109.051 – Parenting Time – Companionship or Visitation Rights
10
Supreme Court of Ohio. Domestic Relations and Juvenile Standardized Forms – Request the Enforcement of a Court Order
11
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2705.05 – Hearings for Contempt Proceedings
12
Internal Revenue Service. Form 8332 – Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent