12.995: Write What a Judge Can Sign
12.995(a) and 12.995(b) are Florida's parenting plan forms: the place where timesharing, decision-making, and daily logistics stop being arguments and become paragraphs. This page is about plan design, not the modification caption. If you already have a final plan and need to change it, start with the modification lane: 12.905 modify parenting plan / timesharing.
Timesharing grid
Weekly pattern, overnights, summer blocks, school-year transitions.
Authority & health
Education, medical, activities: who decides, what happens on tie votes.
Logistics & contact
Exchanges, travel notice, holidays, electronic contact with limits.
Weak plan lines
- "Flexible schedule as parents agree"
- Holidays "to be coordinated later"
- No late pickup or makeup rule
Workable plan lines
- Start/end times with time zones if needed
- Odd/even holiday rotation plus school break split
- Written travel notice days and passport custody rule
Relevant Florida law
The statutes and appellate decisions below are the ones Florida courts actually apply here. Educational orientation only — not legal advice. Read the source before you rely on it.
Statutes
- Fla. Stat. § 61.13(2)(c)1. - Rebuttable Presumption of Equal Time-Sharing
Unless otherwise provided in § 61.13 or agreed to by the parties, there is a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing of a minor child is in the child's best interests, and to rebut it a party must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that equal time-sharing is not in the child's best interests (§ 61.13(2)(c)1., created by ch. 2023-301, effective July 1, 2023). Except when the parties agree to a time-sharing schedule the court approves, the court must evaluate all § 61.13(3) factors and make specific written findings of fact when creating or modifying a time-sharing schedule. A parenting plan or time-sharing schedule may be modified only on a showing of a substantial and material change in circumstances and a determination that the modification is in the child's best interests; ch. 2023-301 removed the former requirement that the change be unanticipated, and if the parents lived more than 50 miles apart when the last time-sharing order was entered, a parent's move to within 50 miles of the other may be considered a substantial and material change. The statute does not say whether the equal time-sharing presumption applies when a court modifies an existing schedule.
- Fla. Stat. §§ 61.046(17)-(18), 61.13(2)(c)2., 4.-5. - Shared Parental Responsibility Defined; Dividing Areas of Decision-Making
Shared parental responsibility is a court-ordered relationship in which both parents retain full parental rights and responsibilities and confer with each other so that major decisions affecting the child's welfare are made jointly; sole parental responsibility means one parent makes decisions about the child. The court shall order shared parental responsibility unless it would be detrimental to the child, and in ordering it may consider the parents' expressed desires and may give one parent ultimate responsibility over specific aspects of the child's welfare, such as education or health care, or divide those responsibilities between the parents based on the child's best interests. The court shall order sole parental responsibility to one parent, with or without time-sharing with the other, if that is in the child's best interests.
Related guides
More Florida forms
State guides (overview)
General support (not Florida-specific)
Official source
Florida Courts (12.995(a) and (b)): https://www.flcourts.gov/Resources-Services/Court-Improvement/Family-Courts/Family-Law-Forms/Parenting-Plan-12.995-a-and-b
12.995 questions
What is 12.995 trying to lock down?
The practical rules for timesharing, parental responsibility and decision-making, communication, and logistics. It is the document a court can sign as written. Mushy language turns into the next modification or enforcement fight.
Where do Florida plans fail first?
Holiday rotation without tie-breakers, silent transportation rules, "reasonable electronic contact" without windows, and decision-making paragraphs that punt every conflict to "mutual agreement."
When do I leave 12.995 and look at 12.905?
When a signed plan or order already exists and you need a modification petition to change it. 12.995 is plan substance; 12.905 is often the modification vehicle.
MyCustodyCoach is not a law firm. Court rules, fees, and form versions change by county; confirm what applies to your case with official court resources or counsel you hire.