Parenting Plans and the Residential Schedule Factors in Washington

The standard: the best interests of the child

In any proceeding between parents under chapter 26.09, the best interests of the child is the standard the court uses to decide and allocate parental responsibilities (RCW 26.09.002). The same section says the relationship between the child and each parent should be fostered unless that is inconsistent with the child’s best interests, and that the best interest of the child is ordinarily served when the existing pattern of interaction between a parent and child is altered only as much as the parents’ changed relationship requires, or as needed to protect the child from physical, mental, or emotional harm.

What a parenting plan contains

A permanent parenting plan must contain provisions for resolving future disputes between the parents, an allocation of decision-making authority, and residential provisions for the child (RCW 26.09.184(2)). The court may also consider the child’s cultural heritage and religious beliefs (RCW 26.09.184(3)). The statewide Parenting Plan (FL All Family 140) (revised 07/2025) is organized around those pieces: limitations on a parent, the custodian designation, parenting time schedule attachments, decision-making, dispute resolution, transportation, and moving with the children.

• Decision-making. The plan allocates decision-making authority to one or both parents for the children’s education, health care, and religious upbringing. Either parent may make emergency decisions about the child’s health or safety, and each parent makes day-to-day decisions while the child is with that parent (RCW 26.09.184(5)).
• The residential schedule. The plan designates in which parent’s home the child lives on given days of the year, including holidays, birthdays of family members, vacations, and other special occasions (RCW 26.09.184(6)).
• Dispute resolution. A process other than court action, such as counseling, mediation, or arbitration, must be provided unless RCW 26.09.187 or 26.09.191 precludes or limits it (RCW 26.09.184(4)). See the mediation guide.

How decision-making is allocated

The court approves the parents’ agreement on decision-making if it is knowing and voluntary and consistent with any limitation required by RCW 26.09.191 or 26.09.192 (RCW 26.09.187(2)(a)). It orders sole decision-making to one parent when a limitation on the other parent’s authority is required by those sections, when both parents oppose mutual decision-making, or when one parent reasonably opposes it (RCW 26.09.187(2)(b)). Otherwise, the court considers any limitation under RCW 26.09.191 or 26.09.192, each parent’s history of participating in decisions, whether the parents have shown the ability and desire to cooperate on decisions, and how far apart they live, to the extent that affects timely joint decisions (RCW 26.09.187(2)(c)).

The seven residential schedule factors

The court makes residential provisions that encourage each parent to maintain a loving, stable, and nurturing relationship with the child, consistent with the child’s developmental level and the family’s social and economic circumstances. Where the limitations of RCW 26.09.191 or 26.09.192 do not decide the schedule, the court considers these factors (RCW 26.09.187(3)(a)):

1. The relative strength, nature, and stability of the child’s relationship with each parent.
2. The agreements of the parties, if they were entered into knowingly and voluntarily.
3. Each parent’s past and potential for future performance of parenting functions, including whether a parent has taken greater responsibility for the child’s daily needs.
4. The emotional needs and developmental level of the child.
5. The child’s relationship with siblings and other significant adults, and the child’s involvement with physical surroundings, school, or other significant activities.
6. The wishes of the parents, and the wishes of a child who is sufficiently mature to express reasoned and independent preferences about the residential schedule.
7. Each parent’s employment schedule, with accommodations consistent with those schedules.

The statute says factor 1 shall be given the greatest weight. “Parenting functions” are defined in RCW 26.09.004 and include maintaining a loving, stable relationship with the child, attending to daily needs such as feeding, clothing, health care, and supervision, attending to the child’s education, and providing financial support.

Equal time and other schedule terms

Where the limitations of RCW 26.09.191 or 26.09.192 are not dispositive, the court may order that a child frequently alternate residence between the parents’ households for brief and substantially equal intervals if that is in the child’s best interests, and may consider how close the parents live to each other (RCW 26.09.187(3)(b)). Section 26.09.187 does not create a presumption of equal time. Any schedule may include reasonable terms that help residential time work in practice, such as reasonable notice when residential time will not occur (RCW 26.09.187(3)(c)).

Limitations on a parent under RCW 26.09.191

Section 26.09.191 sets out when the court must, and when it may, limit a parent. A parent’s residential time shall be limited if the court finds that the parent engaged in willful abandonment that continues for an extended period, physical abuse or a pattern of emotional abuse of a child, a history of acts of domestic violence, an assault causing grievous bodily harm or the fear of it, any sexual assault, or sexual abuse of a child (RCW 26.09.191(4)(a)). Limits are also required if a parent knowingly lives with a person who has engaged in certain of that conduct (RCW 26.09.191(4)(b)).

The court may preclude or limit provisions of the plan if, among other factors, a parent has neglected or substantially failed to perform parenting functions, has a long-term emotional or physical impairment or a long-term substance abuse impairment that interferes with parenting, has engaged in the abusive use of conflict that creates the danger of serious damage to the child’s psychological development, or has withheld the child from the other parent for a protracted period without good cause (RCW 26.09.191(4)(c)). Withholding does not include protective actions taken in good faith to protect the parent or child from the risk of harm posed by the other parent, and protective actions are not a basis for finding abusive use of conflict (RCW 26.09.191(3)(a) and (e), (4)(c)(vi)).

• Limits can include supervised visitation, evaluation or treatment, and, where limits on residential time would not adequately protect the child, no contact (RCW 26.09.191(4)(d)). When supervision is ordered, there is a presumption that a professional supervisor will provide it, which can be overcome only on the findings the statute lists (RCW 26.09.191(4)(d)(i)(A)).
• For abandonment, abuse of a child, a history of domestic violence, or an assault of the kinds listed, the court orders sole decision-making and no dispute resolution other than court action, subject to the exception in subsection (6)(b) (RCW 26.09.191(5)).
• The court need not apply the residential time limits in subsection (4), or the decision-making and dispute resolution limits in subsection (5), if it makes the express written findings based on clear and convincing evidence that the statute requires. That route does not apply to findings of sexual abuse, which RCW 26.09.192 governs, and where there has been a finding of domestic violence there is a rebuttable presumption of sole decision-making (RCW 26.09.191(6)). Separate rules apply when limitations apply to both parents (RCW 26.09.191(7)).
• Limits for a parent convicted of a sex offense against a child, or found to have sexually abused a child, are governed separately by RCW 26.09.192.

In entering a permanent plan, the court may not draw any presumptions from the temporary parenting plan (RCW 26.09.191(2)(a)).

How the child's views reach the court

A sufficiently mature child’s reasoned and independent preferences are one of the residential factors. In a divorce, legal separation, or invalidity case, the court may interview the child in chambers about the residential schedule, and must make a record of the interview (RCW 26.09.210). A guardian ad litem who hears a child express a preference reports it to the court, together with facts about whether it is voluntary and how well the child understands (RCW 26.12.175(1)(b)).

Primary sources

Laws, rules and forms change. Check the current version at the source before you file.

• RCW 26.09.002, policy
• RCW 26.09.004, definitions
• RCW 26.09.184, permanent parenting plan
• RCW 26.09.187, criteria for the permanent parenting plan
• RCW 26.09.191, limitations in parenting plans
• RCW 26.09.192, sexual abuse and sex offense limitations
• RCW 26.09.210, interview with child
• RCW 26.12.175, guardian ad litem
• RCW 26.09.285, designation of custody
• Parenting Plan, FL All Family 140