Child Custody Agreement

TEXAS PROPOSED CHILD CUSTODY AGREEMENT AND PARENTING PLAN

1. Case and Order Profile

Under Tex. Fam. Code § 153.007, parties may submit a written agreed parenting plan, but conservatorship, support, possession, and access terms become enforceable through the court's order, not as a private contract. The court must find the plan to be in the child's best interest and may request revisions or render a different plan after notice and hearing.

2. Parents and Children

3. Best Interest and Safety Gate

Section 153.002 makes the child's best interest the court's primary consideration. Section 153.004 requires the court to consider recent abuse and sexual abuse, restricts joint managing conservatorship in specified circumstances, and may require denial, restriction, supervision, protected exchanges, substance-abstinence terms, or other safeguards.

☐ No known safety issue requiring a special order

☐ Request supervised possession: [________________________________]

☐ Request protected exchange location or third-party exchange: [________________________________]

☐ Request address or contact-information protection: [________________________________]

☐ Existing protective or criminal order to attach and reconcile: [________________________________]

No mediation, direct-contact, travel, or information-sharing term in this proposal applies where it conflicts with a safety order or the protections required by current law.

4. Proposed Conservatorship

4.1 Requested Appointment

☐ Parents as joint managing conservators

☐ Parent A as sole managing conservator; Parent B as possessory conservator

☐ Parent B as sole managing conservator; Parent A as possessory conservator

☐ Other appointment requested: [________________________________]

Section 153.131 supplies the parental and joint-managing-conservator presumptions subject to § 153.004 and the child's best interest. A joint arrangement does not require equal possession.

4.2 Primary Residence

Conservator with the exclusive right to designate the child's primary residence: ☐ Parent A ☐ Parent B ☐ Other: [____]

☐ Primary residence restricted to: [________________________________]

☐ No geographic restriction requested; reasons: [________________________________]

Sections 153.133 and 153.134 require a joint-managing-conservatorship order to address the primary-residence right and geographic area or expressly permit designation without geographic restriction.

4.3 Allocation of Rights and Duties

Unless the court limits them, §§ 153.073-.074 provide rights at all times and rights and duties during possession. Section 153.076 requires timely sharing of significant health, education, and welfare information and includes additional court-ordered notice duties for specified household and protective-order circumstances.

5. Proposed Possession and Access

5.1 Schedule Framework

☐ Use the current Texas Standard Possession Order, completed for the parties' distance and circumstances

☐ Use the alternative schedule completed below

☐ Request restricted or supervised access as described in Section 3

Sections 153.251-.258 create the general possession-order framework. The Standard Possession Order in §§ 153.311-.3171 is rebuttably presumed to provide reasonable minimum possession and to be in the child's best interest, but the court may approve an agreed variance or order a different schedule when appropriate. Distance, school calendars, safety, and the child's circumstances affect the operative terms.

5.2 Child Under Three

For a child younger than three, § 153.254 requires an individualized order based on relevant caregiving, attachment, developmental, household, proximity, routine, and other best-interest factors. A temporary incremental schedule may be appropriate, and the court must render a prospective order for the child's third birthday.

Child under three: ☐ No ☐ Yes — proposed individualized schedule and supporting facts: [________________________________]

5.3 Regular Schedule

5.4 Holidays, School Breaks, and Summer

If the Standard Possession Order is selected, counsel must insert the exact current terms applicable under §§ 153.312-.3171 rather than relying on this summary table.

5.5 Exchanges, Transportation, and Contact

No private default, penalty, automatic make-up time, right of first refusal, travel-notice period, or recording restriction applies unless it is expressly completed and ordered by the court.

6. Support, Insurance, and Required Information

6.1 Child Support and Health Coverage

Section 154.004 generally requires court-ordered child, medical, and dental support to be paid through the state disbursement unit. Section 154.008 requires medical and dental support as provided by the governing subchapters. Under § 154.011, support cannot be conditioned on whether possession or access is allowed.

6.2 Required Information and Change Notices

The final order must address the party information and warnings required by § 105.006, subject to safety protections. Under §§ 105.006-.007, the order generally requires notice of an intended change to specified address, contact, driver's-license, and employment information at the earlier of sixty days before the change or the fifth day after learning of a change that could not have been known in time. Written notice to each other party must be sent by registered or certified mail. Safety findings may support nondisclosure or waiver protections.

This information-change notice is not permission to move a child's primary residence outside a geographic restriction. A requested residence change that alters an existing order must proceed through the court.

7. Dispute Resolution, Enforcement, and Modification

7.1 Optional Dispute Process

☐ Direct written consultation if safe

☐ Counsel-assisted negotiation

☐ Mediation if permitted and safe

☐ Arbitration only under a separate written agreement stating whether it is binding or nonbinding

Section 153.0071 permits court referral to arbitration on written agreement and permits mediation by agreement or court motion. A binding arbitration award remains subject to a non-jury best-interest review. The statute also protects a party who timely objects to mediation based on family violence and requires safety measures if mediation is nevertheless ordered.

No dispute process delays emergency relief or overrides a protective order.

7.2 Enforcement and Modification

Terms included in the court's order may be enforced through remedies available for enforcement of a judgment under § 153.007(c). This proposal does not create a private ten-day cure period, automatic fee award, indemnity between parents, liability cap, force-majeure defense, or automatic custody change.

Under § 156.101, a court may modify conservatorship or possession and access only when modification is in the child's best interest and a statutory ground is established. A signed later agreement does not itself modify the order; the parties must obtain a further court order.

8. Court Submission and Signatures

The parties request that the court review this proposal, make any required findings, and render an order containing the approved terms. Until the court renders an order, this document records requested terms only.

Requested effective date of court order: [__/__/____]

Parent A

Signature: ________________________________________

Printed name: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

Parent B

Signature: ________________________________________

Printed name: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

Counsel / Reviewer

Signature: ________________________________________

Printed name and Texas Bar No.: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

Sources and References

• Texas Family Code Chapter 105 — required final-order information and notices (official current compilation)
• Texas Family Code Chapter 153 — conservatorship, safety, agreed plans, rights, possession, and ADR (official current compilation)
• Texas Family Code Chapter 154 — child, medical, and dental support (official current compilation)
• Texas Family Code Chapter 156 — modification (official current compilation)