He was the eldest son of Augustus, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön-Norburg (1635-1699) and his wife, Elisabeth Charlotte of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1647-1723).

Leopold Augustus died as a child of four in 1706, and the underlying entitlement to the inheritance of Plön passed as a result to Joachim Frederick.

Joachim Frederick himself had no male heir when he died in Plön on 25 January 1722, deeply in debt.

She was a daughter of John Charles, Count Palatine of Gelnhausen by his first wife, Princess Sophie Amalie of Zweibrücken (1646–1695).

Joachim Frederick and Magdalene Juliana had four daughters: On 17 February 1721, Joachim Frederick married his second wife, Princess Juliana Louise of Ostfriesland (1698–1740), a daughter of Christian Eberhard, Prince of East Frisia and his first wife, Princess Eberhadine Sophie of Oettingen-Oettingen (1666-1700).