To answer your first question: Yes, the internal curves need to touch (intersect). In fact, I believe if the curves do not touch then you cannot complete the feature. Meaning the Green Check is greyed out.
Second question: Yes, I find it much easier to create internal datum planes within the SuperFeature for the U's and V's, and then create a planar curve on that plane. It gives me better control.
Third Question: There is no need to explicitly "split" the surface. The U's and V's are the internal influencing curves and will simply influence the internal shape. Keep in mind, the U's and V's need to be G2 to adjacent surfaces too if you want G2 for the surface. You may find in some situations you cannot get G2 to the adjacent surface using planar curves. If you cannot then you must use a "Free" curves for the U's and V's to get G2.