Negotiate, Agree, Co-parent
Video Transcript: What is the Parenting Plan Conference? My name is Jason Sorenson. I’m an Oklahoma attorney with Wirth Law Office, and today we’re going to be talking about the parenting plan conference.
This parenting plan conference is a conference that takes place in the early stages of a divorce when it involves minor children.
So a couple that doesn’t have children and is only disputing over property and money, they’re not going to have this parenting plan conference because they don’t have children. They’re not parents. But this conference allows the two parties time to come to an agreement or try to come to an agreement for a temporary order.
The temporary order is just the controlling court order until the divorce is actually finalized and you get your final order. But until you get your final order, the parties are governed by this temporary order because sometimes these divorces can take up to a year, even two, three years if the parties are really disputing over the terms in the child custody. So sometimes it can take a really long time. So it’s helpful to have these temporary orders in place. But the temporary orders usually include terms like where the children are going to live, the medical and dental insurance care, who pays the child’s support, and how much, the visitation schedule, so at what times are the children with dad, at what time are the children with mom, where the children go to school. And then also information regarding the logistics of the children’s extracurricular activities, like who takes them to their dance class or to their basketball practice and who pays for it.
But parents are encouraged by the court to agree to come into an agreement on these plans at the parenting plan conference. If they’re not able to come to an agreement, then the court’s going to schedule a hearing and then it’s up to the judge to decide how to handle those terms. So the judge gets to decide who gets the kids on Mondays, who pays the child support, all that.
The judge is going to decide what they think is in the child’s best interest. So it’s beneficial if the parents can come up with their own agreement so that they don’t have to leave that decision in some stranger’s hands who doesn’t know the situation like the two parents do.
But this is just general information. If you want specific information on your case in particular, visit makelaweasy.com to speak with a Tulsa divorce lawyer.
