Georgia Plans: Calendar, Decisions, Exchanges
In Georgia custody, a parenting plan is not a therapy essay. It is where you prove you can run a week: regular schedule, holidays, transportation, and who decides school and medical forks. Courts see the same failure modes: fuzzy pickup times, silent holiday splits, and decision-making paragraphs that secretly award veto power. This page is about plan discipline, not about re-arguing who is the better parent.
If the real question is schedule and access after an order exists, read the Georgia parenting time modification overview before national modification pages:
Georgia parenting time modification (overview)Schedule
Readable pickup and return, summer chunks, and what happens when school is out. If a stranger cannot type it into a calendar, it is not ready.
Decisions
Who enrolls, who picks doctors, how fast someone must respond. Vague joint custody language without tie-break rules creates ping-pong conflict.
Logistics
Exchange location, lateness rules, who drives, and how make-up time is offered. These lines prevent 90% of text wars.
| Weak plan language | Workable plan language |
|---|---|
| "Reasonable visitation as agreed" | Day-by-day or week-on/week-off grid with written start and end times |
| "Joint decisions on everything" | Categories + notice hours + what happens if no reply |
| Hidden control: approve all apps, all calls, all friends | Narrow, child-safety rules with measurable triggers |
Sibling lanes (wrong form family)
Starting or changing Superior Court custody? Do not treat this page as your only stop.
Relevant Georgia law
The statutes and appellate decisions below are the ones Georgia courts actually apply here. Educational orientation only — not legal advice. Read the source before you rely on it.
Statutes
- O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15 — Child Support Guidelines for Determining Amount of Award
Georgia uses an income-shares model: the basic support obligation is read from a statutory table keyed to the parents' combined adjusted gross income and the number of children, then adjusted by a mandatory parenting-time adjustment, a low-income adjustment, and any deviations. Current through the 2025 session, effective January 1, 2026.
- O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15(c), (i), (j), (k) - Rebuttable Presumption; Deviations; Involuntary Loss of Income; Modification of Child Support
The guideline amount is a rebuttable presumption in every proceeding, and a court or jury may deviate from it only with written findings stating the reasons, the amount the guidelines would have required, how the presumptive amount would be unjust or inappropriate, and how the deviation serves the child's best interest; no deviation may seriously impair the custodial parent's ability to maintain minimally adequate housing, food and clothing for the child. A parent may petition to modify only on a substantial change in either parent's income and financial status or the child's needs, and may not file again within two years of the final order on that parent's previous modification petition unless the noncustodial parent failed to exercise, or exercised more than, the ordered parenting time, or the petition rests on an involuntary loss of income. For an involuntary loss of income of 25 percent or more (job loss, health, incarceration and similar), the support attributable to the lost income stops accruing from service of the modification petition, but leaving a job without good cause does not count as involuntary, and the court may phase in a new award over up to one year. A custodial parent who wins an upward modification based on the noncustodial parent's failure to be available and willing to exercise court-ordered parenting time shall be awarded reasonable attorney's fees and litigation expenses. The text is the Georgia Child Support Commission's copy current through the 2025 session; HB 1268 (2026) made editorial amendments to § 19-6-15 effective July 1, 2026.
- O.C.G.A. § 19-9-3 — Establishment and Review of Child Custody and Visitation
Neither parent has a prima-facie right to custody and no form of custody is presumed; the judge alone awards custody on the child's best interests, weighing 17 enumerated factors. A child 14 or older may select the custodial parent (presumptive unless contrary to best interests, and itself a possible material change once per two years); for ages 11-13 the child's wishes are considered but not controlling. Visitation or parenting time may be reviewed and modified without a material-change showing, no more than once every two years.
Key cases
- Scott v. Scott, 276 Ga. 372 (Ga. 2003)
A self-executing change-of-custody provision that fails to give paramount import to the child's best interests at the time of the triggering event, such as a parent's relocation, violates Georgia's public policy expressed in O.C.G.A. 19-9-3 and must be stricken, even though such provisions are not expressly prohibited by statute. The court distinguished, and left standing, flexible provisions like those approved in Weaver and Pearce that accommodate a 14-year-old child's statutory right to select the parent with whom to live. A finding at the time of the decree that a future relocation would harm the child does not save the provision, because whether a change of custody is warranted depends on the facts when the modification is sought. Scott overruled Holder v. Holder and disapproved Carr v. Carr, the earlier decisions that had enforced automatic custody changes triggered by a parent's remarriage or relocation.
Related guides
More Georgia forms
State guides (overview)
General support (not Georgia-specific)
Official links
- Georgia Courts parenting plan (self-help): https://georgiacourts.gov/a2j/self-help-resources/family-law/parenting-plan/
- Georgia Courts child custody (self-help): https://georgiacourts.gov/a2j/self-help-resources/family-law/child-custody/
Plan FAQs
Is a parenting plan the same as winning a personality fight?
No. A plan is an operational document: who has the child when, how exchanges work, how emergencies get decided. Judges read vague plans as future motion fuel.
Why do over-control clauses backfire?
Because they read like surveillance disguised as parenting. Workable plans use clear notice windows, defined channels, and decision rules a stranger could administer.
When is this page the wrong lane?
When you need to change an existing order (modification lane) or only enforce written time (documentation and enforcement posture first). Use sibling pages for those jobs.
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.