Parenting Plan Guide for BC

A parenting plan is the working manual for raising children from two homes. It sets out where the children will be and when, who makes which decisions, how the parents will communicate, and what happens when circumstances change. In British Columbia, the legal framework behind it sits in Part 4 of the Family Law Act, and a written plan can be made binding and enforceable.

SiLaw Group Family Lawyers is a boutique family law and mediation firm in South Surrey. This guide explains the building blocks the Act gives you, the schedule patterns families commonly use, and the clauses that keep a plan working years after it is signed.

The two building blocks - parenting time and parental responsibilities

The Family Law Act splits parenting into two distinct things, and a good plan deals with both.

Parenting time is the time a child is with a guardian, as allocated under an agreement or order (s. 42). During their parenting time, a guardian makes the day-to-day decisions affecting the child and has day-to-day care, control and supervision, unless an agreement or order says otherwise.

Parental responsibilities are the bigger decisions and duties, listed in section 41. They include making day-to-day decisions and providing day-to-day care, deciding where the child will live and with whom the child will live and associate, decisions about education and extracurricular activities, decisions about the child's cultural, linguistic, religious and spiritual upbringing, health care consents, applying for a passport or other documents for the child, receiving information about the child from schools and doctors, and conducting legal matters for the child.

Only a guardian may have parental responsibilities and parenting time (s. 40(1)), and in most families both parents remain guardians after separation (s. 39(1)). Unless the plan allocates responsibilities differently, each guardian may exercise all of them, in consultation with the other guardian unless consultation would be unreasonable or inappropriate (s. 40(2)). A plan can allocate responsibilities to one guardian alone, split them by subject, or require joint decisions (s. 40(3)).

What is the difference between parenting time and parental responsibilities?

Parenting time answers where the child is this Tuesday. Parental responsibilities answer who decides which school the child attends. The two are separate on purpose. Parents can share decision-making equally while the child lives mostly at one home, or divide time equally while giving one parent the final say on a specific subject like health care. Separating the two lets a plan fit the family instead of forcing a package deal.

The best interests of the child come first

Every parenting agreement and order must be made in the best interests of the child only (s. 37(1)). Section 37(2) lists the factors that must be considered, including the child's health and emotional well-being, the child's views unless it would be inappropriate to consider them, the child's relationships with significant people, the history of the child's care, the child's need for stability given age and stage of development, each guardian's ability to carry out their responsibilities, and the impact of any family violence. An agreement is not in the child's best interests unless it protects, to the greatest extent possible, the child's physical, psychological and emotional safety, security and well-being (s. 37(3)).

Write the plan with those factors in view, because they are the yardstick a court would apply to it later. Our best interests of the child guide works through each factor in plain language.

Choosing a schedule, described neutrally

The Act does not favour any schedule. No particular arrangement is presumed to be in the child's best interests, and the law does not presume that parenting time should be shared equally, that responsibilities should be allocated equally, or that decisions should be made together (s. 40(4)). The schedule is chosen to fit the child, not a template. Patterns families commonly use include:

• Alternating weeks. The child spends a full week with each parent, changing over on a fixed day. Fewer transitions, longer stretches away from each parent.
• 2-2-3 rotation. Two nights with one parent, two with the other, then a three-night weekend that alternates. Frequent contact with both parents, more transitions.
• 2-2-5-5 rotation. Each parent has the same two weeknights every week, with alternating five-night blocks built around the weekends. Predictable weeknights, fewer handovers than 2-2-3.
• School-week base with alternating weekends. The child lives at one home on school nights and spends alternating weekends, plus set evenings, with the other parent.
• Distance schedules. When parents live far apart, ordinary weeks run from one home and the other parent's time is concentrated in school breaks, long weekends, and holidays, often with video calls in between.

Each pattern trades off transition frequency, stretch length, and logistics like school runs and work schedules. The section 37 factors, especially stability and the child's age and stage of development, are the honest way to choose among them.

Do we have to follow a standard schedule?

No. There is no standard schedule in BC law, and no starting presumption to argue up or down from. A plan can also set different schedules for different seasons, or step the schedule as a young child grows, so long as each stage serves the child's best interests.

Holidays, communication, and the details worth writing down

The plans that survive real life are specific. Consider spelling out:

• Holidays and special days. School breaks, long weekends, summer, cultural and religious days, birthdays, and each parent's special occasions, with a rule for conflicts, such as alternating years.
• Exchanges. Where handovers happen, who drives, and what travels with the child.
• Travel and documents. Notice and consent for travel with the child, and who holds passports and applies for them, which is itself a parental responsibility under section 41.
• Communication between parents. The channel, such as email or a co-parenting app, expected response times, and a rule that routine communication stays businesslike and child-focused.
• The child's contact with the other parent. Reasonable phone or video contact during the other parent's time, without turning it into surveillance.
• Information sharing. Both guardians are entitled to receive information about the child from schools and health providers (s. 41), and the plan should say each parent deals with those third parties directly rather than through the other.

Review clauses and resolving disagreements

Children outgrow schedules. A plan written for a toddler will not fit a teenager with a job and a phone. Build in review points: at set intervals, at school transitions, or on defined triggers like a move or a change in work hours. A review clause makes revisiting the plan a scheduled maintenance task instead of a confrontation.

Just as important is a dispute resolution clause. The Act expressly allows agreements on the means for resolving disputes about the agreement (s. 44(1)(d)), and family dispute resolution includes mediation, parenting coordination, and other out-of-court processes (s. 1). Naming the process in advance, for example mediation first, keeps a single disagreement from unravelling the whole plan. Our family mediation service exists for exactly this, and our parenting lawyers can act where more is needed.

Is a parenting plan legally binding?

It can be. Two or more of a child's guardians may make an agreement about the allocation of parental responsibilities, parenting time, implementation, and dispute resolution (s. 44(1)). The agreement is binding only if it is made after separation, or when the parties are about to separate to take effect on separation (s. 44(2)). A written agreement means one that is in writing and signed by all parties (s. 1). Once a written parenting agreement is filed in court, it is enforceable under the Act as if it were a court order (s. 44(3)). A court must set aside or replace an agreement that is not in the child's best interests (s. 44(4)), which is one more reason to draft with section 37 in view.

Parenting plans are often built into a broader separation agreement alongside support and property terms, and our family law agreements team prepares both. Child support is dealt with separately from parenting time and is the child's right; see our child support guide.

Talk to a parenting lawyer for free

Whether you are drafting a first plan, updating one that no longer fits, or responding to a proposal you are unsure about, advice early is cheaper than repair later. The first 30 minutes with SiLaw Group are free, in English or Punjabi, by phone, video, or in person at Suite 201, 3108 Croydon Drive in South Surrey. Call (778) 381-9977.

This page is legal information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, speak with a lawyer.