Colorado form JDF 1113
The Colorado parenting plan form, section by section
Colorado's official parenting plan is form JDF 1113, Parenting Plan, published by the Colorado Judicial Branch. Here is what each section asks for, in plain words, so you know what to decide before you sit down to fill it in.
Official form: Colorado Judicial Branch, Parenting Plan, form ID JDF1113 (PDF, English; PDF, Spanish). The English PDF we reviewed is marked "R: December 18, 2025." Always download the current version from the court before you file.
This page explains the form; it does not replace it. File only the official form from the Colorado Judicial Branch, and read its own instructions. Section numbers below follow the version listed above.
What each section asks
Sections 1 to 4The caption
The top of the form names the court and county, the parties (petitioner and respondent or co-petitioner, plus any intervenor), who is filing it with contact details, and the case number and division. Copy these exactly from your other court papers.
Section 5Instructions
Every party has to sign the plan before the court will review it. Anything the form does not cover goes in the "Other Terms" section near the end. You can attach extra pages, and you sign each one.
Section 6Agreement type
You check one box: you agree on everything, you agree on some parts and leave the rest blank, or you cannot agree and are each filing your own plan. The form notes that the court may order mediation where you do not agree.
Sections 7 and 8Relationship and children
You say how each party is related to the children, then list the children of the relationship who are 19 and under, with their address, sex and date of birth.
Section 9Parenting decisions
For each major area (school and education; medical, dental and mental health; religious activities; extracurricular and recreational activities; passports; and any other area you list) you choose whether both parents decide together or one party decides. You also name the parent whose home counts as the children's residence for school attendance. A rules box explains everyday decisions, emergency care, sharing provider contact information, telling the other parent about address or phone changes, and access to school and health records.
Section 10School-year schedule
This is the weekly rotation: the days and times the children are in each party's care, and how transportation and exchanges work. The planner and our schedule guides help you decide what goes here.
Section 11Summer schedule
You either keep the school-year schedule through the summer or write a separate summer schedule, again with days, times and transportation. The planner's summer option lets you preview alternating weeks or two-week blocks.
Section 12Holidays and special occasions
The holiday schedule takes priority over the school-year and summer schedules unless you leave a holiday blank. For each holiday you write which party has it in even years, odd years or all years, and for long weekends you mark the days. The form lists school breaks and cultural holidays (spring break, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving break, each week of winter break, children's birthdays), state holidays (Memorial Day weekend, Independence Day, Labor Day weekend) and religious and other holidays (Easter, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, plus blank lines for your own), and has room for other arrangements.
Section 13Overnights
You state how many of the year's 365 overnights each party has under the plan, and explain if your total is not 365. The planner's full-year view gives you a starting count that includes your holidays and summer.
Sections 14 and 15Travel, vacations and phone access
You can agree to tell each other about overnight and out-of-state travel and share contact information, say who may handle passports and travel documents, and set phone contact with the children, with room to describe other arrangements.
Section 16Moving
The form reminds the parties that moving a significant distance requires a new parenting plan and the court's permission, and it cites C.R.S. § 14-10-129. You check whether anyone has current plans to move. See our relocation explainer.
Section 17Child support
You enter the amount, either from an existing court order or Child Support Services case or from the child support worksheet, along with who pays, how often, when payments start and where they are paid. The form notes that the court reviews the amount against the legal guidelines and makes the final decision. The firm's child support guide explains more.
Sections 18 and 19Health insurance and optional expenses
You say who provides medical, dental, vision and mental health insurance for the children, how you share extraordinary medical expenses by percentage, and whether you share optional costs such as private school, college or activities.
Section 20Child tax exemption
You decide which party claims each child as a dependent and in which years (even, odd or all). The form explains that only one party can claim a child in a given year, and what applies if you make no agreement.
Section 21Other terms
This is the place for anything else you agreed to, how you will handle future disagreements (mediation, arbitration or another process), and whether you will exchange financial information, such as tax returns, every year.
Sections 22 to 24Signatures, service and extra space
Each party signs under penalty of perjury and gives the date and place of signing; a lawyer signs too if one represents you. If only one party signed, the certificate of service records how a copy was sent to the other parties. A last section gives space for anything that did not fit.
Changing an existing plan
The same form is used when parents change parenting time after orders are in place. The court's Change Parenting Time page lists JDF 1113 alongside the motion and stipulation forms used for a change.
Your lawyer, start to finish
Attorney Charles E. Liken Jr.
Attorney Liken has written the kind of report a judge reads in a custody case, as a court-appointed Colorado Child & Family Investigator. He can review a draft parenting plan and point out the gaps that tend to cause fights later.
- Former Colorado Deputy District Attorney
- Colorado court-appointed Child & Family Investigator
- 700+ government fraud investigations
- 30+ years in the legal field
- Licensed in Colorado
Talk it through
Have a draft parenting plan?
Bring it to a free 20-minute call with Attorney Liken. No charge and no obligation.
Office telephone 303-406-2791
Office fax number 720-713-7147
Email charles@longmont.law
Office mailing address
The Longmont Law Firm, LLC
1601 29th St. Suite 1292
Boulder, CO 80301
Please do not send confidential details by email before we speak. Contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship.