These need to match, but don't: apply_filters( 'document_template', $path, $template ); and add_filter( 'documents_template','my_template', 10, 2 ); `document_template` != `documents_template` Otherwise, everything looks correct. ### Edit ### Wait, not everything looks correct. I don't think you want to add a parameter to your callback function definition. Instead, you need to define `$template` within the callback, or simply pass it back unmodified. So, replace this: function my_template( $template = '' ){ ...with this: function my_template(){ e.g.: function my_template(){ $path = MY_INCLUDES_DIR . '/document/'. $template; return $path; } add_filter( 'documents_template','my_template', 10, 2 );