Child Custody Agreement Template

A custody agreement is a document detailing the custody & living arrangements for each child shared between co-parents or guardians who are no longer cohabiting.

Often prepared & filed during a divorce or separation case, the agreement must be approved by a judge before its terms & conditions can be enforced as part of a family or divorce court order. That means, even if both parents sign the document, it still requires a judge’s formal consideration & approval of what’s in the best interest of the child on a case-by-case basis.

What’s Inside?

A custody agreement should cover every aspect of a child’s care!

From regular weekly calendars & holiday schedules to decisions about health insurance, education, and religion, there’s no detail too small or trivial when it comes to the future development of a child. 

A custody agreement typically includes:

• Weekly visitation schedules 
• Special holiday schedules
• Communication protocols between co-parents, and parent & child
• Allocation of transportation costs incurred during visitation
• Allocation of tax benefits or exemptions associated with each child
• Specifics of Child Support Payment arrangements (if applicable)
• Financial responsibilities of each parent covering tuition, healthcare, extra-curriculars, clothing & personal items, etc.
• Code of conduct for parents to follow
• Methods for resolving disputes between parents
• Signatures of both parents (or guardians)

What We Offer

There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to custody agreements or court-approved parenting plans.

Before you start drafting or customizing one, both parents (including other adult guardians or custodians of the child) need to have an honest & open discussion about how each decision or choice they make will pan out for the child in the future.

To give you a kickstart, we offer a pre-made, 100% editable template for you to work with. By covering essential legal clauses found in most child custody agreements, we simplify the writing process for you!

Customizability is key!

Our template is not set in stone. Using an editable Word and Google Docs version, you can edit the text of each clause, add new T & Cs, or place our default clauses in a different order. Remember to fill in all required fields and check all relevant boxes applicable to you. In terms of formatting, you can adjust the font style, spacing, and margins to your liking.

A Complete Guide to Using Our Template

Our free template is a helpful starting point for anyone deliberating on a formal plan to co-parent a child. This way, you don’t have to create a custody agreement document from scratch, saving you both time & effort in research and formatting work! Lifesaver, right?

Below, I offer a complete step-by-step through each clause in our Custody Agreement template, but first, let’s get some basics out of the way:

• Identify the state and county where the agreement is being signed, notarized, or filed. This tells you which laws or procedures will govern the agreement. For both parties’ and the court’s reference, you also need to specify when the agreement is made (in the date placeholders provided).
• Add the full names and contact details of both parents (referred to as Parent A and Parent B throughout the template).
• Identify the children in question. You can enlist the names & DOBs of up to six children in our default template. Feel free to add more using an editable version of the file.

Terms & Conditions

Clause I

Check the relevant box to indicate who has legal custody of the child: Parent A, Parent B, or both (joint legal custody). 

What is legal vs. physical custody?

Legal custody is best described as the legal authority to make major decisions about a child’s life (education, healthcare, religion).

Au contraire, physical custody only relates to where the child lives or which parent provides day-to-day care (food, lodging, etc.)

Clause II

Select the relevant box to indicate which physical custody arrangement applies to you:

Now,

1. In case of primary physical custody, specify which parent is the primary one.
2. In case of sole physical custody, specify which parent shall have sole custody. 
3. Select the third option if you are going for joint physical custody.

Clause II(a)

Fill out our built-in weekly schedule table to clarify who the child shall live with each day of the week, and any other relevant details. 

Here’s a sample schedule for the weekend:

Saturday	Parent A	Parent A has full day and overnight custody.
Sunday	Parent B (switch)	Parent B picks up the child at 5 PM for the overnight and next week starts.

Clause II(b)

Select the 1st option if no special arrangements are to be made for holidays such as Christmas or Independence Day. Select the 2nd option if you plan to divide holiday parenting time. Now, use the table below to specify which parent gets the child on which holiday every even or odd year.

Note

We only cover the following federal holidays, but depending on which state you live in, you may want to add other holidays to the list:

Clause III

Specify how many weeks of vacation time each parent is entitled to spend with the child. Also, determine the number of days of advance notice that must be provided by the parent going on a vacation.

Clause IV

Designate an exact physical location where the child shall be exchanged between the two parties to avoid any confusion or inconvenience later on. 

Clause V

Specify if transportation costs are to be shared or paid solely by Parent A or Parent B. If none of the above, check the box titled ‘Other’ and specify your chosen arrangement in the blank space below.

Clause VI

Select the relevant box to confirm whether either parent of the child can relocate. If they can, you will need to specify the duration of the advance prior notice of their move to the other parent. Please refer to your state-specific relocation laws. 

For example, in California, a parent must give at least 45 days’ notice before moving (Family Code § 3024). But if relocation is restricted (second box), you will need to identify a mile zone beyond which relocating is not allowed. 

Clause VII

To deal with a situation when either parent is travelling with the child, you will need to specify what counts as ‘out of area travel’ in terms of the co-approved no. of miles from either parent’s primary residence.

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Clause VIII (a)

When it comes to communicating with the child, it’s important to have a clear schedule to foster a healthy relationship with both parents. Our template offers four different ways to create that schedule:

• Select 1st box if there is no bar to when either parent can speak to the child.
• Select the 2nd box if communication is to be limited to certain hours of every day (hours to be filled in by user)
• Select the 3rd box if you want to limit communication to specific hours or specific days (hours & days to be filled in)
• Select ‘Other’ if you wish to create a custom schedule. 

Clause VIII (b)

It’s also important to specify the mode of communication between the parent & child. Options include phone, text, email, or ‘Others’ like video calls.

When either parent changes their contact information, say, moves to a different neighborhood or gets a new phone number, the other must be updated. Use this section to identify how long the parent has to inform the other parent of the change (number of days to be specified by the user).

Clause IX

To avoid confusion later, it’s important to be upfront about who’s paying for the child’s education. Use our default option to specify if all education-related costs are to be borne by parent A, parent B, shared equally, or to be allocated in any other way, which then must be detailed in the space below.

Remember, education costs aren’t limited to school fees.  They may also include enrollment or registration fees, or the cost of textbooks, stationery, and other required educational materials or supplies. 

Clause X

Having a clear understanding of who is paying for the child’s health insurance is a top priority for courts. Use this clause to specify if insurance is to be arranged by parent A, parent B, shared equally, or to be covered in any other way, which must be detailed in the space below. The same choice is offered for medical expenses NOT covered by health insurance (Clause XI).

Clause XII

This clause was added to cover all other miscellaneous costs of raising a child. We already cover three basic ones for you: 

Extracurriculars (like dance or music), Clothing & personal items, and Special events (holidays, etc.). For each, you will need to clarify if the financial responsibility is on parent A, parent B, on both equally, or to be calculated on a custom basis. You can add additional costs after selecting the ‘Other’ box and specifying what the cost is, and who must bear it. 

Clause XIII

Often, courts make it mandatory for one parent to pay the other in child support. Select the 1st box if child support payment is not relevant to your case.

If it is, you must check the 2nd box and go on to insert the following details:

1. Amount of child support in $
2. On what day of each month will payment be processed
3. An indication of until when such payments must be made (specify event in space provided)

For real estate assets, feel free to use our Quitclaim Deed template to transfer property between former spouses as part of property division agreements!

Clause XIV

This clause deals with the situation when either parent is deployed on military duty, in which case the specifics of a custody or parenting schedule may be adjusted. Many states have statutes offering protections for active-duty parents. Parents subject to military deployment are encouraged to review local statutes such as Florida Statutes § 61.13002, which allow temporary modifications to custody agreements or parenting plans during deployment.

Clause XV

Claiming a child as a dependent can lower tax liability. That’s why it’s important to be clear as to who gets to claim the child for tax purposes. This clause has been designed to help you allocate tax-related benefits associated with each child. 

IRS Rules Vs. Court Order – What Takes Precedence?

Under IRS rules, the custodial parent has the default right to claim the child as a dependent. So, even if a court-endorsed custody agreement assigns tax claim rights, the IRS only recognizes the custodial parent unless the non-custodial parent submits IRS Form 8332. This form is signed by the custodial parent, essentially saying, “I give up my claim to the exemption for this child for this year (or future years).”

You have three options:

• 1st option: Parent A is to be given the permanent & exclusive right to claim the child for tax purposes. 
• 2nd option: This right is to be given to Parent B. 
• If you are looking for a more 50/50 balance, select the third box where both parents get to alternate; for each child, you will have to identify which parent (A or B) gets to claim the child for which set of years (specify odd or even).

Either way, you need to specify the names of the children in question. You can add up to four names in our default version, but you can add more using an editable file version.

Clause XX

Name the state that holds jurisdiction over any disputes arising out of the agreement. This may or may not be the same state specified at the beginning of the document. Knowing which laws apply to your agreement beforehand helps you minimize the chances of confusion or disagreements down the road.  

Clause XXI

If there are any other terms that either parent wants to have in writing but they have not been covered under our standard clauses, you can add them here as Additional Terms.

Signatures

To formalize the custody agreement, both parents must add their dated signatures before submitting the document in a court of law. An e-signature solution like Signaturely can streamline this process and ensure that the custody agreement is securely signed, stored, and accessible by both parties.

What’s Next?

Once signed and approved by the court, this becomes a binding legal order. Failure to comply may result in enforcement actions such as contempt proceedings.

Note: Most U.S. states require custody agreements to be notarized once they are duly executed by both parents.

Laws & Procedures across States

Specifics of custody laws & principles vary by state. From differences in terminology to the legal doctrines adopted by courts – you need to confirm the legal & procedural requirements of the state where your custody agreement is being signed or notarized.

• Terminology: The term custody is by no means universal. For example, Illinois has abolished the term “custody” in favor of “parental responsibilities” while states like Texas prefer the term‘’conservatorship’’.

• Presumptions & Preferences: States like Georgia, Nevada and West Virginia tend to encourage joint custody agreements; other states like to start on a more neutral ground, e.g., Florida and Utah who encourage equal time-sharing unless one of the parents is seen as unfit to parent. 

• Substantive Procedures: Depending on where you live, a child custody case may be subject to different rules & procedures. For instance, Illinois makes it mandatory to attend parenting classes in contested cases – while California law requires parents to submit their cases for a mandatory mediation procedure before a disagreement is finalized.

Wrapping Up!

And there you have it! A court-ready document you can file in a family or divorce court. For former partners who are navigating new family dynamics, it pays to think things through when it comes to raising a child. To that end, a written agreement not only helps you avoid conflicts down the road by deciding on critical issues early on, but it also builds the foundation of a stable & nurturing environment for the child in the future.

So whatcha’ waiting for? Grab our premade Custody Agreement for free, and customize it to fit the unique needs of each child or family involved!