High-conflict parenting describes an ongoing pattern of significant parental conflict that damages children's wellbeing, disrupts decision-making, makes exchanges difficult, and produces repeated litigation. It is not a legal status but a practical description of a family dynamic that requires specific parenting plan provisions.

Children in high-conflict parenting situations are at significant risk of harm from the conflict itself independent of any other safety concerns. Research consistently shows that ongoing exposure to parental conflict harms children's emotional development and long-term adjustment.

Parenting plans for high-conflict families should anticipate the specific conflict patterns and build in structures to manage them such as detailed exchange protocols, communication restrictions, dispute resolution requirements, and provisions that minimize discretionary decisions that become battlegrounds.

Courts often label parents as both high conflict when one parent is the instigator and has a personality disorder, drug abuse or mental illness. For instance, it is impossible to co-parent with a narcissist and not recognizing those other factors often force the abused parent to attempt to do the impossible. The 2026 Alec and Lydia Act recognizes this difficulty in cases of domestic violence and outlines the public policy of child safety.