Tennessee Parenting Plan: Requirements, Filing, and Changes

A Tennessee parenting plan is a court-approved document required in every divorce, legal separation, annulment, paternity, or custody case involving a minor child. It sets out where the child sleeps each night, how parents divide decisions about school, healthcare, and religion, and how much child support each parent pays. The plan is governed by Tennessee Code Annotated §§ 36-6-401 through 36-6-415, and once a judge approves it, it carries the force of a court order.¹

When a Plan Is Required

Any final decree in a divorce, legal separation, annulment, or separate maintenance action that involves a minor child must include a permanent parenting plan.¹ The same rule applies to unmarried parents going to court to establish paternity or resolve custody. One narrow exception: parents who divorced before July 1, 1997, and later return only to file an agreed modification of their existing order are not subject to the parenting plan statute.

While a case is pending, courts use a temporary parenting plan to set interim arrangements. The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts publishes a standardized form for this purpose.² Under § 36-6-405, an existing residential schedule cannot be modified on a temporary basis before the final hearing unless both parents agree or the court finds the child faces a likelihood of substantial harm without the change.³

What Has To Be In the Plan

Residential Schedule

The parenting plan form requires a day-by-day residential schedule covering school weeks, weekends, and summer breaks, with every night of the year assigned to one parent. It also calls for a holiday and vacation rotation with specific pick-up and drop-off times. That level of detail allows the court to calculate each parent’s exact percentage of parenting time, which feeds directly into child support.

The plan should also name the exchange location, state which parent handles the drive, and set communication arrangements, such as phone or video call times, for when the child is with the other parent.

Decision-Making Authority

The plan divides major decisions into three categories: education, healthcare, and religious upbringing. For each one, parents designate whether a single parent has sole authority or whether both share it. Every plan must also include a dispute resolution process for when parents disagree, such as mediation or arbitration, unless domestic violence makes that inappropriate.¹ A parent who willfully skips a scheduled dispute resolution session without good cause can be ordered to pay attorney fees and financial sanctions to the other parent.

Child Support Worksheet

A completed Child Support Worksheet must be filed with the parenting plan.⁴ The worksheet calculates each parent’s obligation using both parents’ gross monthly income and the number of overnights the child spends with each parent. It also factors in health insurance premiums, recurring medical costs, and work-related childcare expenses. The Tennessee Department of Human Services provides the mandatory worksheet forms and an automated calculator. Errors on the worksheet can lead a judge to reject the filing, so figures need to be checked carefully.

Parenting Education Seminar

Both parents must attend a parenting education seminar as soon as possible after the initial complaint is filed.⁵ The seminar runs at least four hours, and some courts require more. Children are not permitted to attend. It covers the emotional impact of divorce on children, alternative dispute resolution, the court process, and domestic violence, and must include at least one thirty-minute video on adverse childhood experiences produced by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services or the Building Strong Brains Tennessee campaign.

Courts treat a refusal to attend as evidence of a lack of good faith, which can affect custody decisions.⁶ Registration fees for approved programs typically run $25 to $100 depending on the provider and county.

Filing and Court Approval

Once both parents sign the plan, it is filed with the Clerk of Court in the county where the case is pending. Filing fees for a divorce with minor children generally fall between $300 and $430, depending on the county and whether service fees are included. If the parents cannot agree, the court may order dispute resolution under Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31.¹ If there is still no agreement forty-five days before trial, each parent must file and serve their own proposed plan. A parent who fails to file one risks having the court adopt the other parent’s plan.

A judge reviews every proposed plan against the best-interest-of-the-child standard before approving it, and judges do reject plans when the residential schedule or financial support is inadequate. Once approved, the plan is incorporated into the final decree and becomes an enforceable court order.

How the Judge Evaluates the Plan

Tennessee law sets out the factors a court must weigh in deciding whether a plan serves the child’s best interest.⁶ The major ones include:

Which parent has handled the majority of day-to-day caregiving, including meals, bedtime, and school involvement.
Each parent’s willingness to encourage a close relationship between the child and the other parent. A pattern of denying parenting time weighs against the parent doing it.
The love, affection, and emotional bonds between the child and each parent.
How long the child has lived in a stable environment and the importance of continuity.
Each parent’s physical, mental, and emotional fitness. The court can order psychological examinations if needed.
The child’s emotional and developmental needs, along with relationships with siblings, extended family, school, and activities.
Any evidence of physical or emotional abuse of the child, the other parent, or anyone else.
The reasonable preference of a child age twelve or older, though it is not automatically decisive.

When Domestic Violence Is Involved

When domestic violence or child abuse is present, the usual rules shift. Under § 36-6-406, the court must limit a parent’s residential time where doing so serves the child’s best interest and safety.⁷ The dispute resolution requirement can also be reduced or eliminated when face-to-face negotiation is unsafe.¹ Flagging a history of abuse early in the case matters, because it changes what the court will require of both parents at every stage.

Changing the Plan Later

To modify a finalized parenting plan, a parent files a petition in the court that issued the original order. If both parents agree to the new terms, the process follows the same procedure used for the original plan.³ If they disagree, the parent requesting the change generally must show a material change in circumstances significant enough to justify altering the residential schedule or decision-making arrangement. Common examples include a parent relocating, a shift in work schedules, or a change in the child’s educational or medical needs. Filing fees for a modification petition typically run $100 to $150, depending on the county.

Parental Relocation

A parent who wants to move more than fifty miles away within Tennessee or out of state must send written notice to the other parent by certified or registered mail at least sixty days before the planned move.⁸ The notice must include the new address, the reason for the move, and a statement that the relocation will proceed unless the other parent objects within thirty days.

If no objection is filed within that window, the relocating parent may move with the child by operation of law. If an objection is filed, the relocating parent must petition the court for approval, and the non-relocating parent then has thirty days to file a response. Missing that thirty-day deadline effectively waives the right to object. Courts evaluate relocation using the same best-interest factors that apply to the original plan.

Enforcement When a Parent Violates the Plan

An approved parenting plan is a court order, and violating it carries real consequences. The usual enforcement tool is a motion for contempt of court. The parent filing it generally has to show that the other parent willfully disregarded a specific provision of the plan rather than making an honest mistake about ambiguous language.

Penalties for contempt can include fines, make-up parenting time, an award of attorney fees to the parent who had to file the motion, and, in cases of repeated or serious violations, jail time. Persistent violations can also prompt the court to modify custody or decision-making authority. A parent accused of a violation can defend by showing a genuine emergency, unclear wording in the plan, or a reasonable belief that the child was in immediate danger. Specific dates, times, and locations in the original plan make violations easier to prove and harder to explain away.

1
Justia. Tennessee Code 36-6-404 – Permanent Parenting Plan
2
Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Parenting Plan Forms
3
FindLaw. Tennessee Code 36-6-405
4
Tennessee Department of Human Services. A Guide to Tennessee’s Child Support Worksheet
5
Justia. Tennessee Code 36-6-408 – Parent Educational Seminar
6
FindLaw. Tennessee Code 36-6-106
7
Justia. Tennessee Code 36-6-406 – Restrictions
8
Justia. Tennessee Code 36-6-108 – Parental Relocation