Arkansas Child Custody Agreement
Arkansas presumes joint custody is in the child's best interest, and one of the ways that presumption is rebutted is that the parents reached agreement on every custody issue.
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Introduction
Arkansas is the state where reaching a complete custody agreement changes the law applied to your case, and it changes it against the shape of the default. Since Act 604 of 2021, Ark. Code Ann. Section 9-13-101(a)(1)(A)(iv)(a) creates a rebuttable presumption that joint custody is in the child's best interest in an original custody determination in a divorce or paternity matter. Subdivision (iv)(b) then lists the ways that presumption is rebutted, and one of them is simply that the parties have reached an agreement on all issues related to custody of the child. A full parental agreement is therefore a statutory rebuttal ground: once you agree, the joint custody thumb comes off the scale and the judge decides on the plain best interest standard instead. No Arkansas statute tells the court to adopt, ratify, or presumptively honor what the parents filed, and the arrangement has no force until the circuit court puts it into a decree. That is not a reason to litigate instead of settling. It is a reason to write the agreement so it stands on its own terms rather than leaning on a presumption your agreement has switched off.
Key Things to Know
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Agreeing is a rebuttal ground in Arkansas, not a credential. Section 9-13-101(a)(1)(A)(iv)(a) presumes joint custody is in the child's best interest in an original custody determination in a divorce or paternity matter, and (iv)(b) makes reaching an agreement on all issues related to custody one of the ways that presumption is rebutted. The effect is that a complete agreement removes the state's preference rather than earning your arrangement any weight, and it does so automatically, with no findings required.
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Nothing in Arkansas law tells a judge to adopt what you filed. There is no ratification procedure, no statutory instruction about what the court does with a submitted agreement, and no provision that makes the terms enforceable between you before a decree exists. Act 604 added a freestanding command at Section 9-13-101(b)(1)(A)(vi) that a court shall consider the best interest of the child when making a child custody determination, and it is not conditioned on the parents disagreeing. The agreement becomes enforceable when the circuit court incorporates it into a custody or divorce decree, and not before.
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The presumption is harder to displace by fighting than by settling. If a party objects to joint custody and the case is decided on the merits, Section 9-13-101(a)(1)(A)(iv)(b)(1) requires the court to find by clear and convincing evidence that joint custody is not in the child's best interest. Act 604 also changed Section 9-13-101(b)(1)(A)(ii) from may to shall, so the court is now required to consider awarding joint custody. An agreement clears that same bar with no finding at all.
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Arkansas enumerates no best interest factors. Section 9-13-101 sets the standard and, through Act 604, adds at Section 9-13-101(b)(1)(A)(vi) that a court shall consider the best interest of the child when making a child custody determination, but the section contains no list of factors anywhere in it. What Arkansas judges actually weigh comes from decided cases rather than from the statute. A form that recites a numbered factor list is not describing Arkansas law.
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Arkansas has no parenting plan statute. No plan has to be filed, no plan contents are prescribed, and nothing compels parents to submit a schedule at all. What Act 604 did instead was put the drafting duty on the court: under Section 9-13-101(b)(3), a court that holds a hearing on the merits and finds the joint custody presumption rebutted shall enter a written order containing its findings and a parenting time schedule that maximizes each parent's time and is consistent with the child's best interest, and under Section 9-13-101(b)(1)(A)(vii)(b) the court shall, at a party's request, issue a written order specific as to the frequency, timing, duration, condition, and method of scheduling parenting time for a parent not granted sole, primary, or joint custody. Because the Section 9-13-101(b)(3) duty is triggered by a hearing on the merits, parents who settle get no court-drafted schedule, and the one in their agreement is the only one there is.
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There is no Arkansas relocation statute. Chapter 13 of Title 9 sets no notice period, no mileage threshold, and no procedure for objecting to a move, so there is no statutory number to write into your agreement. Any notice you want before a parent moves has to come from a term you draft yourselves. Once the decree is entered, changing the arrangement means going back to court.
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Domestic abuse changes the analysis at two levels, and the difference between them matters. Subsection (c) of Section 9-13-101 requires the court to consider the effect of domestic violence on the child's best interest once allegations are proven by a preponderance of the evidence, counting a single act whether or not the child was physically injured or personally witnessed the abuse, while the rebuttable presumption against placing a child in the custody of an abusive parent requires a finding by a preponderance that the parent has engaged in a pattern of domestic abuse. Act 604 wired this into the joint custody rule as well, since Section 9-13-101(a)(1)(A)(iv)(b)(4) rebuts the joint custody presumption where a rebuttable presumption described in subsection (c) or subsection (d) of that section is established by the evidence. If abuse, coercion, or a protective order is part of your situation, talk to a lawyer rather than work from a form.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Child Custody Agreement in Arkansas, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Child Custody Agreement guide walks through them.
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Arkansas Requirements for Child Custody Agreement
Added by Act 604 of 2021, this creates a rebuttable presumption that joint custody is in the best interest of the child in an original custody determination in a divorce or paternity matter. It is the backdrop against which any Arkansas custody agreement is read.
One of the listed grounds rebutting the joint custody presumption is that the parties have reached an agreement on all issues related to custody of the child. A complete parental agreement therefore removes the presumption automatically, without any finding by the court.
Where a party objects to joint custody, the court must find by clear and convincing evidence that joint custody is not in the child's best interest. That evidentiary bar applies to the litigated route and not to an agreed one.
Act 604 of 2021 changed this provision from may to shall, so an Arkansas court is required to consider awarding joint custody. An agreement that asks for something other than joint custody should be specific about the arrangement it proposes instead.
The court shall consider the best interest of the child when making a child custody determination. The duty is unconditional and is not removed because the parents have agreed, and Arkansas sets out no enumerated list of best interest factors anywhere in the section.
On a party's request, the court shall issue a written order specific as to the frequency, timing, duration, condition, and method of scheduling parenting time for a parent not granted sole, primary, or joint custody, taking the child's developmental age into account. Drafting the agreed schedule in those same terms matches what the order would contain.
Where the court holds a hearing on the merits and finds the joint custody presumption rebutted, it shall enter a written order containing the facts, findings, and conclusions of law explaining its decision and a parenting time schedule that maximizes each parent's time and is consistent with the child's best interest. This duty follows a merits hearing, so an agreed case does not produce a court-drafted schedule.
Arkansas keeps ordinary custody vocabulary and runs parenting time and visitation side by side in the same section, with parenting time introduced by Act 604 of 2021. The document may use either, but should be internally consistent.
Arkansas has no relocation statute, no notice period, no distance threshold, and no objection procedure for a parent who moves. Any notice or consent requirement before a move exists only if the parents write it into the agreement.
Proven allegations of domestic violence must be considered in the best interest analysis, and a finding of a pattern of domestic abuse raises a rebuttable presumption against placing the child in that parent's custody. Establishing that presumption also rebuts the joint custody presumption under the cross-reference added by Act 604 of 2021.
Frequently Asked Questions
It changes the case, but not in the way most parents expect. Ark. Code Ann. Section 9-13-101(a)(1)(A)(iv)(a) presumes that joint custody is in the child's best interest in an original custody determination in a divorce or paternity matter, and Section 9-13-101(a)(1)(A)(iv)(b) lists the ways that presumption is rebutted. One of them is that the parties have reached an agreement on all issues related to custody of the child. So a complete agreement takes the presumption out of your case rather than adding weight to your arrangement, and it does that automatically, with no findings required. Arkansas has no statute that tells a judge to adopt, ratify, or presumptively honor an agreed arrangement, which is why the terms you write have to be able to stand on their own.
Yes. Parents can settle every custody question between themselves, but the arrangement carries no legal force until the circuit court incorporates it into a custody or divorce decree. Until then neither parent can be held in contempt of a custody order. Act 604 of 2021 added a freestanding command at Section 9-13-101(b)(1)(A)(vi) that a court shall consider the best interest of the child when making a child custody determination, and that duty is not switched off because the parents agree.
It is a rebuttable presumption, added by Act 604 of 2021 at Section 9-13-101(a)(1)(A)(iv)(a), that joint custody is in the best interest of the child in an original custody determination in a divorce or paternity matter. Act 604 also changed Section 9-13-101(b)(1)(A)(ii) so that a court shall, rather than may, consider awarding joint custody. Section 9-13-101(a)(1)(A)(iv)(b) then sets out the grounds that rebut the presumption, and reaching an agreement on all issues related to custody is one of them. Where the case is contested instead, Section 9-13-101(a)(1)(A)(iv)(b)(1) requires a finding by clear and convincing evidence that joint custody is not in the child's best interest before the court departs from it over a party's objection.
Arkansas has no statute that says so in terms, and no statute that says the opposite either. What the code does say is that a court shall consider the best interest of the child when making a child custody determination, under Section 9-13-101(b)(1)(A)(vi), and that duty is not conditioned on the parents disagreeing. The structure of the joint custody rule points the same way: the legislature treated a complete parental agreement as something that removes a presumption rather than something that binds the judge.
Arkansas does not have a statutory list. Section 9-13-101 states the best interest standard and, through Act 604 of 2021, adds at Section 9-13-101(b)(1)(A)(vi) that a court shall consider the best interest of the child when making a child custody determination, but nowhere in the section is there an enumerated list of factors. The considerations Arkansas judges apply come from decided cases rather than the code. That is a real difference from states that print ten or twenty numbered factors, and it means a generic form promising to walk you through your state's statutory factors is not describing Arkansas.
No. There is no parenting plan statute in Arkansas, no filing requirement, and no prescribed contents for such a document. Act 604 of 2021 put the equivalent duty on the court rather than the parents. Under Section 9-13-101(b)(3), a court that holds a hearing on the merits and finds the joint custody presumption rebutted shall enter a written order setting out the facts, findings, and conclusions of law that explain the basis for its decision, together with a parenting time schedule that maximizes the time each parent has with the child and is consistent with the child's best interest. Under Section 9-13-101(b)(1)(A)(vii)(b), the court shall at a party's request issue a written order specific as to the frequency, timing, duration, condition, and method of scheduling parenting time for a parent not granted sole, primary, or joint custody, taking the child's developmental age into account. The Section 9-13-101(b)(3) duty follows a hearing on the merits, so parents who agree do not get a court-drafted schedule by that route.
There is no statutory answer. Chapter 13 of Title 9 contains no relocation section: no notice period, no distance or mileage threshold, no consent requirement, and no petition-and-objection procedure. That makes the notice term in your own agreement the operative rule between you, so it is worth writing a specific number of days, a requirement to give the new address, and a statement that notice by itself does not change custody or parenting time. Arkansas supplies no statutory objection procedure, so anything you want to happen before a move has to come from your own terms.
Arkansas uses ordinary custody vocabulary rather than a renamed scheme, so custody, joint custody, sole custody, and primary custody all appear in Section 9-13-101 with their usual meanings. The one wrinkle is that the section runs visitation and parenting time side by side. Act 604 of 2021 introduced parenting time at Section 9-13-101(b)(1)(A)(vii), which is the provision that lets a party ask for a written order specific as to frequency, timing, duration, condition, and method of scheduling, while older subsections of the same section still say visitation. Using either word is safe, but drafting the schedule in the frequency, timing, duration, condition, and method of scheduling terms of Section 9-13-101(b)(1)(A)(vii)(b) matches what a court would be asked to write.
Arkansas has two different rules operating at two levels. Subsection (c) of Section 9-13-101 requires the court to consider the effect of domestic violence on the child's best interest once allegations are proven by a preponderance of the evidence, and a single act counts whether or not the child was physically injured or personally witnessed the abuse. The rebuttable presumption that it is not in the child's best interest to be placed in the custody of an abusive parent needs more than that: a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that the parent has engaged in a pattern of domestic abuse. The two connect to the joint custody rule at Section 9-13-101(a)(1)(A)(iv)(b)(4), which rebuts the joint custody presumption where a rebuttable presumption described in subsection (c) or subsection (d) of that section is established by the evidence. Subsection (d) is a separate provision dealing with sex offenders and is not a domestic violence rule. If any of this is present in your situation, this is a matter for a lawyer.
No. Support is calculated under separate rules and is not resolved by the custody terms you agree on, even though the same decree will usually address both. Keep the two questions apart when you draft, and do not assume a parenting time schedule answers the support question.