Child Custody Agreements: Steps to Create Your Custody Schedule
A child custody agreement is the document that both parents agree on that outlines the terms of who the child will live with, when the child will visit the other parent and any other information about raising the children that the parents want included. Once a custody agreement has been decided, the parents can go to court and the court will adopt it into a court order. If an agreement can't be reached between the parents, the court will make the decisions about the agreement and then make it into the order.
Parents are usually better off if they can reach an agreement before going to court. This is because if both parents agree on the terms of custody and visitation they will be more likely to live by those terms. And, both parents will be happy with the results.
In order for parents to agree, they need to come up with a good custody and visitation schedule. This is one of the most important things in the custody agreement. Here are some steps to create the schedule.
The first step is to decide how you will divide up custody between the parents. Maybe the parents want to have equal time with the child, or maybe it will be a seventy-thirty split. After you decide the time, figure out a repeating cycle that schedules the time. Maybe the parents will alternate weeks. Or maybe one parent will have children during the week and the other parent will have weekends.
After you come up with a repeating cycle, map it out on a calendar. This will help you see the actual time that both parents have with the children. It is also helpful to have the visual as you add the other things to your schedule.
The next thing to figure out is the holiday and vacation schedule. Go through the holidays (and you can decide if you want to count school holidays or the calendar holidays) and divide them between the parents. Divide them equally and fairly so both parents have some big holidays and some smaller ones.
The vacation time can be scheduled in on specific dates when the parents will have vacation time with the children, or it can be an unspecified vacation clause. This is a clause that says both parents can take the children for so many days during the year. For example, the parents can take the children for ten days one time a year.
After you've written out your list of holidays and what parent will have custody on them, write them on your calendar. If you have specific dates of vacation you can add it in as well. This is helpful because then you have the information in two different formats.
Finally, you want to add in any special events. This could be one time events like the parent's birthdays, or there can be repeating events like soccer games during the season. These are the times when the custody situation may change because of other events. Write them all out and then schedule them in the calendar.
All of this may seem time consuming and tedious–but it is worth it to get the custody agreement you want. You may want to investigate the various custody software programs available. There are some that let you create you custody and visitation schedule very easy. This can be helpful; especially if you need to create multiple schedules so you and the child's other parent can agree.
If you and the child's other parent can agree on your custody and visitation schedule it won't be difficult to finish out the custody agreement. Then you can relax because you know that you'll be satisfied with what the court accepts.