5 Steps to Creating a Custody Agreement When You Are Unwed

by - 3/24/2019 11:14:00 AM


Photo by Luis Quintero on Unsplash


Issues of child custody can become stressful when a couple separates. When parents part ways, especially when they were not married, a conflict might arise as to who should keep the child. To sort out such an issue, a custody agreement should be created by the parents to resolve the conflict in a manner that gives the child a win-win situation.

A custody agreement is a document that separated couples use to help them raise a child. After being drafted, it is submitted to a judge who will review and approve it before making it an official court order. Here are five steps that should be followed when creating a custody agreement:

1) Custody and Visitation Schedule

This section specifies when a child spends time with either of the parents. The schedule can alternate weekly or monthly, depending on the parents’ preference. It should also outline a holiday schedule, that is, where and when a child will be spending time during different holidays, vacations, and special events.

For this purpose, a parenting plan software comes as a handy tool of convenience. One such software is Our Family Wizard. This comprehensive parenting plan software allows you to create an interactive time calendar for parenting time schedules. It is quite beneficial as it has great additional tools that will ease the lives of physical custodians. You can get more information about this software on https://extraordinaryreviews.com/software/our-family-wizard.

2) Child Support Information

This section entails the visitation timeshare calculation. This is the amount of time the child spends with each parent. It also outlines the income calculations of each parent to ensure that the right figure for child support is paid consistently. A parenting plan should incorporate the details of financial support exhaustively and state when it will end, for example, after the child becomes financially liberated.

3) Parenting Information

These are the rules that both parents should follow when raising the child. It gives information about the child’s education, religion, healthcare, and other important aspects of the kid’s well-being.

4) Child Protection

This concerns the people who should be restricted from seeing or being around your child. They could be family members whom you do not trust and might harm the child in one way or another. Guidelines should also be outlined for the babysitter that is going to take care of your child. Protection also encompasses the respect accorded to the child. The child should not be abused in any way. Respect between separated parents is very important as well. Fathers who are insolent or vulgar to the kid’s mom will also have an impact on the child.

5) Special Circumstances


There might be overlooked circumstances that might pop up later that will require you to tweak the visitation schedule. You should agree on how you will handle impromptu situations without conflicting. The child could maybe want to be with the mother more often than with the father. You should know how you would be able to handle such special circumstances. Important school and social gatherings should always be attended. This will act as evidence of a continuing relationship with the child. An accurate visitation schedule should be maintained by sticking to the specifics on the parenting plan.



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