Connecticut Child Custody Agreement

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   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.

2. 2

   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.

3. 3

   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.

4. 4

   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.

5. 5

   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.

6. 6

   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.

7. 7

   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.

Connecticut Requirements for Child Custody Agreement

• Approval of a consented plan under Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(f)

  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.

• Joint custody presumption under Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(b)

  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.

• Joint legal without joint physical under Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(a)

  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.

• Plan filing in a dispute under Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(d)

  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.

• Minimum plan contents under Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(d)(1)-(6)

  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.

• Plan objectives under Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56a(e)

  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.

• Fair and equitable inquiry under Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-66(a)

  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.

• Affidavit route under Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-66(b)

  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.

• Best interests factors under Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56(c)

  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.

• Relocation burden under Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-56d

  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.