Most Savannah parents going through a divorce or custody case assume that if they and the other parent are on decent terms, they can keep things informal. Then they learn that Georgia law doesn’t care how amicable the split is. A parenting plan isn’t a courtesy. It’s a legal requirement, and the court won’t finalize a custody case without one.
Under O.C.G.A. § 19-9-1, a parenting plan is mandatory in every case where child custody is at issue, with a narrow exception for emergency family violence proceedings. That covers divorce, standalone custody actions, legitimation, and modification cases. Once the judge approves the plan, it becomes part of the court order. Violating it carries the same consequences as violating any other court order. Getting the details right matters enormously, and getting them wrong creates problems that can take years to untangle.
With more than 100 years of collective experience in Georgia family law, our team at Johnson Kraeuter & Sanders LLC has guided parents through every stage of this process, from drafting the first plan to litigating disputes that arose from plans that left too much unsaid. Here’s what Savannah parents need to understand before they file.
Why Georgia Requires a Parenting Plan in Every Custody Case
Georgia made parenting plans mandatory for all custody and visitation cases beginning January 1, 2008. The legislature’s reasoning is practical: when custody arrangements exist only in verbal agreements or general divorce decrees, parents end up back in court constantly because there’s no authoritative document to consult when a dispute arises. For temporary hearings, the court has some discretion about whether to require a plan at that stage, but by the time the case reaches final resolution, a plan must exist. Once the judge signs off on it, the parenting plan is a binding order, and non-compliance opens the door to contempt proceedings.
Physical Custody, Legal Custody, & Who Decides What
These two concepts get conflated constantly, and the confusion tends to produce poorly drafted plans. They cover fundamentally different questions.
Physical Custody
Physical custody determines where the child lives. A primary physical custody arrangement means the child lives mainly with one parent, with scheduled time for the other. Joint physical custody means the child splits time more evenly between both homes. The parenting plan must spell out which arrangement applies and attach a detailed schedule to it.
Legal Custody
Legal custody governs which parent has decision-making authority over major aspects of the child’s life. This covers education, healthcare, extracurricular activities, and religious upbringing. Parents can share joint legal custody, or one parent can hold sole legal custody. Whatever the arrangement, Georgia law requires the plan to confirm that each parent can make routine day-to-day decisions while the child is physically in their care. When parents share joint legal custody but genuinely disagree on a specific decision, someone has to have the final word. Georgia requires the plan to name a tie-breaking authority for those situations. That authority is either one designated parent or, in more complex cases, a parenting coordinator. Leaving this open creates predictable deadlocks.
Building the Schedule: Parenting Time, Holidays, & Exchanges
A Georgia parenting plan can’t use placeholder language like “as the parties agree” or “reasonable visitation.” The plan has to account for every day of the year. It’s not a theoretical framework but an actual schedule. Chatham County Superior Court judges expect specificity. The schedule should address standard weeks, alternating weeks if applicable, holidays, spring and winter school breaks, summer, and each parent’s birthday, as well as the child’s birthday.
Exchange logistics belong in the plan as well. These are the details parents tend to skip because they seem obvious: who drives, where the exchange happens, what time pickup begins, and what the protocol is when a parent is going to be late. When the relationship deteriorates later, those details aren’t obvious anymore. Courts have seen contempt cases built entirely around exchange ambiguities that could have been resolved with two sentences in the original plan.
Filing in Chatham County: Agreed Plans vs. Contested Plans
The filing path depends on whether the parents can reach agreement before the court gets involved. When parents agree, they submit a single joint parenting plan for the judge to review and approve. When they can’t agree, each parent must file their own proposed plan, generally 10 to 14 days before the first scheduled hearing. The judge then decides between the competing proposals or orders modifications. Parents who arrive without a plan on file put themselves at a disadvantage from the start.
Savannah parents filing in Chatham County should know that the court uses its own parenting plan form, organized into four distinct sections: Day-to-Day Decisions, Major Decisions, Disagreements and Tie-Breaking Authority, and Parenting Time/Visitation Schedule. Knowing that structure before drafting means you’re building toward a document that maps cleanly onto what the court will evaluate, rather than reformatting at the last minute.
Filings go through the Chatham County Superior Court Clerk’s office at 133 Montgomery Street in Savannah, with Tammie Mosley serving as Clerk of Superior Court. Filing a domestic relations action in Chatham County costs $218, with sheriff service adding $50 or publication in the Savannah Morning News adding $85. Parents who want general information and form access before consulting an attorney can visit the Chatham County Family Law Resource Center at 5105 Paulsen Street, Suite 111-A in Savannah. The Resource Center provides educational materials and forms but can’t give legal advice.
Changing a Parenting Plan After It Becomes a Court Order
Circumstances change. Jobs relocate, schools change, relationships shift. Georgia law provides a path to modify a parenting plan, but the rules differ depending on what you want to change.
Modifying Custody vs. Modifying Parenting Time
Modifying custody itself (meaning a change to which parent holds primary physical or legal custody) requires proof of a material change in circumstances that substantially affects the child’s welfare. There’s no waiting period to file that request. If something significant happens the day after the final order is entered, a parent can immediately seek modification. Modifying parenting time or visitation operates under a different rule. Under O.C.G.A. § 19-9-3, a parent can request a parenting time review once every two years following the judgment without having to prove a material change. That two-year clock runs from the date of the last judgment addressing visitation, not from any informal agreement the parties made on their own.
The Two-Year Rule for a Child’s Parental Preference Election
A separate two-year rule applies specifically to a child’s parental preference election. Once a child turns 14, O.C.G.A. § 19-9-3(a)(5) gives them the right to select which parent to live with. That selection is presumptive. The court will honor it unless the chosen parent is determined not to be in the child’s best interest. The 14-year-old can only make that election once within any two-year period from the date of their previous selection. This is a distinct two-year window, unrelated to the visitation modification window, and confusing the two leads to procedural missteps.
What Makes a Parenting Plan Hold Up Over Time
A parenting plan isn’t a form to complete before the court date. It’s the document your family will live under for years, covering everything from ordinary school nights to holiday disputes to how a parent’s out-of-state job offer gets handled. Plans drafted with that long-term perspective generate far fewer post-judgment problems than those drafted simply to get through the immediate hearing.
Savannah parents entering this process (or those who need to modify an existing order) can reach Johnson Kraeuter & Sanders LLC at (912) 421-2900. Our attorneys have served on the Executive Committee of the State Bar’s Family Law Section, and our team includes a former felony prosecutor with significant trial experience. We bring that depth to every plan we draft and every plan we defend.