Connecticut Child Custody Agreement
Connecticut gives agreeing parents three separate advantages, starting with a duty to approve the plan they both consented to unless it finds the plan is not in the child's best interests.
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Introduction
Connecticut attaches three specific legal consequences to arriving at court with an agreement already written. Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(f) provides that if both parents consent to a parental responsibility plan, that plan shall be approved by the court as its custodial and access orders unless the court finds the plan as submitted and agreed to is not in the child's best interests. Two further advantages sit on top of that one. Under 46b-56a(b) there is a presumption, affecting the burden of proof, that joint custody is in the child's best interests where the parents have agreed to it or so agree in open court, and if the court declines joint custody anyway it shall state the reasons in its decision. Under 46b-56a(a) the agreement can also shape the form of the award, because the court may award joint legal custody without joint physical custody where the parents have agreed to merely joint legal custody. None of that removes the judge: the plan becomes enforceable when the court approves it and enters it as an order, and the court retains the power to find the plan is not in the child's best interests.
Key Things to Know
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The central rule is Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(f). If both parents consent to a parental responsibility plan, that plan shall be approved by the court as the custodial and access orders of the court under section 46b-56, unless the court finds the plan as submitted and agreed to is not in the child's best interests. The verb is mandatory, and the only way out of it is a specific finding against your plan. That is a different starting position from asking a judge to decide the arrangement from the evidence.
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Agreeing to joint custody adds a second layer. Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(b) creates a presumption, affecting the burden of proof, that joint custody is in the best interests of a minor child where the parents have agreed to an award of joint custody or so agree in open court. If the court denies joint custody under that subsection, it shall state in its decision the reasons for the denial. A written-reasons duty is a meaningful check, and few states pair one with the presumption.
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Your agreement can also fix the shape of the order, not just its likelihood. Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(a) allows the court to award joint legal custody without joint physical custody where the parents have agreed to merely joint legal custody. So if you want shared decision-making with the child living mainly in one home, say exactly that in the plan rather than asking for joint custody generally.
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Connecticut applies two separate screens to an agreed arrangement. Under 46b-56a(f) the screen is best interests. Where the plan forms part of a broader final agreement, Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-66(a) adds a second inquiry into the parties' financial resources and actual needs and their respective fitness to have physical custody or visitation, in order to determine whether the agreement is fair and equitable under all the circumstances. A plan can be sound on parenting and still draw questions on the wider agreement.
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There may be no hearing. Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-66(b) allows the required inquiry to be satisfied by sworn affidavit rather than a hearing on the record, but only where each party attests that no restraining order and no protective order is in effect or pending between them. If such an order exists, the affidavit shortcut is unavailable and the inquiry happens on the record.
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Connecticut has the longest best interests factor list of the states in this set and, on the face of the statute, the weakest instruction to use it. Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56(c) lists seventeen factors, but says the court shall consider the best interests of the child and in doing so may consider, but shall not be limited to, one or more of those factors. It adds that the court is not required to assign any weight to any of the factors it considers, but shall articulate the basis for its decision. A long list here means a wide menu for the judge, not a constrained one, which is another reason to settle the arrangement between yourselves.
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Connecticut's domestic violence posture in this chapter is thin, and it is worth knowing that before you rely on it. Abuse appears as item (16) of the 46b-56(c) list, covering whether the child or a sibling of the child has been abused or neglected, and that list is discretionary with no weighting requirement. It does not reach abuse between the parents, and no presumption against joint custody on a finding of abuse appears in the chapter. The one place it bites procedurally is 46b-66(b), which closes off the affidavit route where a restraining or protective order is in effect or pending. If there has been abuse or coercion, get legal advice rather than filing a plan.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Child Custody Agreement in Connecticut, 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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Connecticut Requirements for Child Custody Agreement
A parental responsibility plan both parents consent to shall be approved by the court as its custodial and access orders unless the court finds the plan as submitted and agreed to is not in the child's best interests. State the parents' consent on the face of the plan.
Where the parents have agreed to an award of joint custody, or so agree in open court, there is a presumption affecting the burden of proof that joint custody is in the child's best interests, and the court shall state its reasons if it denies joint custody under that subsection.
The court may award joint legal custody without joint physical custody where the parents have agreed to merely joint legal custody. Say which form of award you are asking for rather than requesting joint custody in general.
A proposed parental responsibility plan must be filed in a proceeding involving a dispute between the parents about the custody, care, education and upbringing of the child. Agreeing parents are not compelled by that subsection to file, but a consented plan is the instrument the court is directed to approve.
Include a schedule of the child's physical residence during the year, an allocation of decision-making on health, education and religious upbringing, a future dispute procedure, a remedy for failure to honor responsibilities, provisions for the child's changing needs, and provisions minimizing exposure to harmful parental conflict.
The plan's stated objectives are the child's physical care and emotional stability, the child's changing needs as the child grows, and setting out each parent's authority and responsibility. Draft each clause so it visibly serves one of those objectives.
Where the parties submit a final agreement, the court inquires into their financial resources and actual needs and their respective fitness to have physical custody or visitation, to determine whether the agreement is fair and equitable under all the circumstances. This is a second screen on top of the best interests screen.
The court's inquiry may be satisfied by sworn affidavit rather than a hearing on the record, but only where each party attests that no restraining order and no protective order is in effect or pending between them.
Seventeen factors are listed, but the court may consider one or more of them, is not required to assign any weight to any factor it considers, and must only articulate the basis for its decision. Item (16) covers whether the child or a sibling has been abused or neglected.
After a judgment awarding custody, where a relocation would have a significant impact on an existing parenting plan, the relocating parent bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence a legitimate purpose, a reasonable proposed location, and that the move is in the child's best interests. No notice period or distance threshold is set, so write one into the plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(f) says that if both parents consent to a parental responsibility plan, that plan shall be approved by the court as its custodial and access orders unless the court finds the plan as submitted and agreed to is not in the child's best interests. Connecticut adds two more advantages on top: a presumption affecting the burden of proof where the parents agree to joint custody, and the ability to have joint legal custody awarded without joint physical custody where that is what the parents agreed to.
Yes, and the plan does not take effect as the court's custodial and access orders until that happens. The court's approval is what turns the plan into the custodial and access orders of the court under 46b-56a(f). The court can decline, but only by finding the plan is not in the child's best interests. Where the plan sits inside a broader final agreement, Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-66(a) requires the court additionally to inquire whether the agreement is fair and equitable under all the circumstances.
Where the parents have agreed to an award of joint custody, or so agree in open court, Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(b) creates a presumption, affecting the burden of proof, that joint custody is in the child's best interests. It is a presumption rather than a guarantee, so a court can still decline. If it does decline under that subsection, the statute requires it to state the reasons for the denial in its decision.
Yes. Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(a) allows the court to award joint legal custody without joint physical custody where the parents have agreed to merely joint legal custody. That is useful when you want to share decisions about health, education, and religious upbringing while the child lives mainly with one parent. Write the split out explicitly in the plan instead of asking for joint custody in general terms.
A proposed parental responsibility plan must be filed under Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(d) in a proceeding involving a dispute between the parents about the custody, care, education and upbringing of the child. Parents who agree are not compelled by that subsection to file one. Filing a consented plan is still usually the right move, because it is the instrument 46b-56a(f) directs the court to approve unless it finds the plan is not in the child's best interests.
Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(d) requires, at a minimum, a schedule of the child's physical residence during the year, provisions allocating decision-making authority to one or both parents on health, education and religious upbringing, provisions for resolving future disputes including where appropriate a mental health professional, provisions for dealing with a parent's failure to honor responsibilities under the plan, provisions for the child's changing needs as the child grows and matures, and provisions minimizing the child's exposure to harmful parental conflict. Because the statute says at a minimum, you can cover more.
Not always. Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-66(b) allows the court's inquiry to be satisfied by sworn affidavit instead of a hearing on the record. That route is available only where each party attests that no restraining order and no protective order is in effect or pending between them. Where one of those orders exists, the inquiry must happen on the record.
Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56(c) sets out seventeen factors, and it is unusually loosely worded: the court shall consider the best interests of the child, and in doing so may consider, but shall not be limited to, one or more of those factors. The statute expressly says the court is not required to assign any weight to any factor it considers, but shall articulate the basis for its decision. One of the seventeen, item (16), is whether the child or a sibling of the child has been abused or neglected.
Connecticut sets no advance notice period and no mileage trigger. Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56d applies after a judgment awarding custody, where a proposed relocation would have a significant impact on an existing parenting plan, and it places the burden on the relocating parent to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the relocation is for a legitimate purpose, that the proposed location is reasonable in light of that purpose, and that the relocation is in the child's best interests. The section adds five further factors the court considers. Because the statute gives no notice period, it is worth writing one into your own plan.
No. Child support is calculated separately under its own rules and is not settled by a custody order. A parental responsibility plan settles residence, decision-making, and parenting time, not what either parent pays. Keep the two questions apart.