The parenting plan you establish at the end of a custody matter will govern your children's daily lives for years—which schools, which activities, which parent on which holidays, how decisions about healthcare and education get made, and how you and your co-parent communicate when you disagree. A custody arrangement imposed by a judge who spent 20 minutes reviewing your case is a blunt instrument. A parenting plan developed in mediation by two parents who know their children's actual lives is something far better: specific, realistic, and built to last because both parents helped design it.

Marla's 20+ years of Sonoma County family law litigation included hundreds of contested custody matters. She knows what Santa Rosa judges prioritize in custody cases, what parenting plans hold up and which ones require constant modification, and how to help two parents who are not on good terms build a plan that actually works for the children. Her mediation produces parenting plans that are legally sound, detailed enough to prevent disputes about ambiguous language, and flexible enough to evolve as the children's needs change over the years ahead.

Santa Rosa child custody mediation addresses both legal custody (decision-making authority over education, healthcare, and major life decisions) and physical custody (where the children live and the schedule for each parent). Marla helps both parents work through the specific details: the base weekly schedule, holiday and vacation allocation, communication protocols for co-parenting decisions, transportation logistics, and provisions for schedule modifications as the children grow. The resulting parenting plan is incorporated into the full family law settlement agreement and submitted to Sonoma County Superior Court as a binding order.

Call (707) 525-8800 or email Tidwell@perrylaw.net.