Indiana

Parenting plans in Indiana: the guidelines are the starting line Parenting plans in Indiana: the guidelines are the starting line

Parenting plans in Indiana: the guidelines are the starting line

Indiana hands every divorcing or separating parent something most states don't: a complete recommended "minimum" default parenting schedule. The Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines — adopted by the Indiana Supreme Court and periodically updated — spell out regular weekly time, holidays with exact hours, extended summer time, telephone and video contact, transportation responsibilities, even age-specific provisions for infants and toddlers. If parents can't agree, Indiana courts can enter an order with the "IPTG" as a minimum or up to equal time for each parent.

Which reframes the drafting question: the Guidelines are your floor and your fallback. The real work is deciding what schedule best fits your family, and drafting the schedule precisely.

What the guidelines give you (and where they're thin)

The IPTG's default for school-age children gives the non-primary parent (called "noncustodial") alternating weekends, a midweek evening or overnight, extended summer parenting time, and alternating holidays on a detailed published schedule. Recent versions reflect a philosophical shift toward more shared time and explicitly contemplate equal arrangements where parents can manage the logistics.

Where the Guidelines run thin is where modern families actually live: true 50/50 architectures (week-on/week-off, 2-2-5-5), long-distance logistics, physician and executive schedules that don't respect alternating weekends, travel sports, and co-parents who can't communicate without a referee. For all of that, you draft custom, well-designed custom plans by agreement.

What a strong Indiana plan adds

Decision-making detail. Indiana splits legal custody from the schedule. Joint legal custody needs deadlock mechanics: consultation windows, defined tie-breakers, or mediation-before-motion clauses.
Precision on exchanges — times, places, who drives, lateness rules.
Communication protocols — many Indiana orders now specify a co-parenting app, response windows, and boundaries.
The right-of-first-refusal, sized deliberately. The IPTG contains an "opportunity for additional parenting time" concept; undefined, it becomes a surveillance tool. Define the trigger hours.
Review triggers — age-based schedule evolution written in advance, so you're not litigating kindergarten logic against a teenager's life. When plans do need changing, the path is modification.

When the plan is really a custody fight

If the dispute isn't about calendars but about capacity — addiction, instability, interference, safety — the parenting plan conversation is premature. That's litigation, and it has its own page: high-conflict custody in Indiana.

Drafted for your family, not the form

Brown Carrington uses the Guidelines where they serve you and drafts past them where they don't — with the precision of people who enforce these plans for a living.

Straight answers.

Are the Parenting Time Guidelines mandatory?

Yes and no. They are the presumed minimum amount of time, but for most cases it only goes up from there.

Can we get a true 50/50 schedule in Indiana?

Yes. Whether by agreement or by court order. Indiana has no statutory equal-time presumption, so if this is contested, the case has to be built.

Do holiday schedules really need exact hours?

Ask anyone who's spent December 24th arguing about when "Christmas Eve" starts. Yes. Exact hours.

What happens if my co-parent ignores the plan?

It's a court order — contempt, makeup time, and fees are available, and chronic violations can support modification.

Are the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines mandatory for agreed parenting plans?

No, parents can agree to any schedule that serves their child, including far more time than the Guidelines' floor, and courts routinely approve.

How do Indiana holiday schedules work under the Guidelines?

The IPTG publishes a detailed alternating holiday framework with specific times — which is exactly why custom plans should be equally specific if they deviate. Vague holiday terms lose to the published default in every argument.

What happens to our plan when our child becomes a teenager?

The Guidelines shift with age, and smart custom plans build the shift in — activity-driven flexibility, direct parent-teen scheduling protocols, transportation as the teen drives. Plans that ignore adolescence get modified by reality first and the court second.