Michigan Parenting Plan
Michigan's Friend of the Court office is involved in most custody cases and applies an 'established custodial environment' analysis that makes an accurate description of the existing routine unusually important.
- Document
- Order regarding custody and parenting time
- Court
- Circuit Court, Family Division
- Decision-making called
- Legal custody
- Parenting time called
- Parenting time
Build your Michigan residential schedule
Choose a pattern and get the exact overnight counts your order regarding custody and parenting time needs to state.
Schedule pattern
50/50Each parent keeps the same two weekdays every week and the weekends alternate, producing a repeating 2-2-5-5 night pattern.
January 2026
January 2026
- Parent A
- Parent B
Tap any night to switch parents.
A order regarding custody and parenting time is the written document that tells the Circuit Court, Family Division, and, afterwards, both households, where your children are on each night of the year and who decides what. Once the court signs it, it is an order rather than an agreement.
Michigan uses the term parenting time for the time the children spend with each parent, and legal custody for the authority to make major decisions. Drafting in the state's own vocabulary avoids questions at filing and makes the plan easier for the court to read.
What a Michigan plan needs to cover
Residential schedule
Which parent the children are with on every night of the year, including how the regular rotation works and when it starts.
Holidays and school breaks
How Thanksgiving, the winter holidays, spring break, summer and each child's birthday are divided, and how the rotation alternates between years.
Exchanges and transportation
Where exchanges happen, at what time, who does the driving, and what happens when someone is running late.
Decision-making
Who decides on education, medical care, religion and activities: jointly, or with one parent having the final say in specific areas.
Communication
How the parents contact each other, how each parent contacts the children during the other's time, and what counts as an emergency.
Changes and disputes
How the parenting plan gets changed later, notice periods for relocation, and what the parents will try before returning to court.
Filing in Michigan
Custody and parenting time matters in Michigan are heard in the Circuit Court, Family Division. Forms, filing fees, mediation requirements and local rules differ between counties, and they change, so confirm the current requirements with the court where you are filing before you prepare anything final.
Choosing a schedule that works in Michigan
The schedule is the part of the plan you will actually live with, and the part every other section depends on. Start from your children's ages and the distance between the two homes, then pick the pattern that fits both.