Problematic Parenting Plan Provisions and How to Improve Them
May 7, 2025 | 12 Noon to 1:30 PM Arizona Time
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We need parenting plans that are clear and specific, particularly for difficult and high conflict cases where the parents are unable to resolve details on their own. Too many plans leave details unresolved and open to interpretation. Some Plan provisions ignore a child’s age or best interests in favor of parents’ wishes for “equality”. Other provisions require reasonableness or cooperation even when the parents have no history of exercising either trait with each other.
This webinar will explore Parenting Plans with SPARK provisions — Plans that are Specific, Practical, Attainable, Reduce conflict, and Kid-focused. We will provide specific Plan provisions that promote cooperative and parallel coparenting and reduce the need for post-Plan litigation.
SPEAKERS
Annette Burns, JD holds a JD from the Arizona State University College of Law, and has practiced law in Arizona since 1984 and is a certified Family Law Specialist. Ms. Burns’ practice focuses on family law, mediation, Special/ Family Law Master, expert witness, discovery master, and arbitration of family law cases, as well as parenting coordination.
From July 2017-June 2018, she served as President of the international interdisciplinary organization the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), and was a board member of AFCC from 2005-2019. She is a co-author of the Thomson/ Reuters publication Arizona Family Law Rules Handbook, co-author of BIFF for CoParent Communication, a guide for separated parents. She is a co-author of the 2024 book Co-Parenting by Design: The Definitive Guide for Divorced or Separated Parents, and she was a moderator and interviewer for the 2020-2022 project Conversations about Domestic Violence, a compilation of interviews to understand the impact of domestic violence in family court.
Nicole Siqueiros-Stoutner, JD. is a graduate of ASU College of Law and began her career as a legal advocate for domestic violence victims and a CPS (now DCS) case specialist, assisting children and families in need. She later clerked for a former presiding family court judge at Maricopa County Superior Court and conducted mediations in divorce and paternity cases. She then led the legal department of a nonprofit and practiced at three boutique Phoenix family law firms, eventually becoming a partner. After working with Launi Sheldon for a year, they co-founded Sheldon & Stoutner in 2019.
Ms. Siqueiros-Stoutner co-authored Co-Parenting By Design, published by Unhooked Books in late 2024, and regularly writes and presents Continuing Legal Education seminars for the Arizona State Bar, Maricopa County Bar, Arizona AFCC, AAML, and the Arizona Supreme Court Committee on Domestic Violence.
Ms. Siqueiros-Stoutner has served as a Judge Pro Tem for Maricopa County Superior Court, conducting Alternative Dispute Resolution Conferences and private mediations. She is a trained mediator and Parenting Coordinator. She held leadership roles at the Arizona State Bar, the Maricopa County Bar Family Law Section and as a Board Member of the Los Abogados Hispanic Bar Association and remains an active member, as well as a member of the Arizona Women Lawyers Association.