Georgia Child Custody Agreement
A Georgia judge is directed to ratify the agreement you present and fold it into the final judgment unless the judge writes specific factual findings against it.
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Introduction
In Georgia a custody agreement is more than a proposal put in front of a judge. O.C.G.A. Section 19-9-5(a) lets parents present the judge an agreement respecting any and all issues concerning custody, and Section 19-9-5(b) then directs that the judge shall ratify the agreement and make it part of the judge's final judgment. The only way out is for the judge to make specific written factual findings, as part of that final judgment, that the agreement would not be in the child's best interests, and the same subsection removes one ground for refusing outright by providing that the judge shall not refuse to ratify based solely upon the parents' choice to use joint custody. Section 19-9-1.1 extends the same treatment to a binding arbitrator the parents hire and select themselves, which most states do not permit in custody at all. What agreeing does not do is remove the paperwork: Section 19-9-1(a) requires a parenting plan in every case where custody is at issue between the parents, and requires the final order to incorporate a permanent parenting plan. It does change how that plan is filed and which of its prescribed contents your agreement can displace, and those are two of the more useful things to get right before you sign.
Key Things to Know
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Georgia is a ratify or explain state. O.C.G.A. Section 19-9-5(a) lets parents present the judge an agreement respecting any and all issues concerning custody, and Section 19-9-5(b) directs that the judge shall ratify the agreement and make it part of the judge's final judgment. The only escape is for the judge to make specific written factual findings, as part of the final judgment, that the agreement would not be in the child's best interests. That is a writing and specificity duty rather than an evidentiary standard, and it puts the burden of explanation on the judge rather than on the parents.
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One reason for refusing is taken off the table by name. Section 19-9-5(b) provides that the judge shall not refuse to ratify the agreement based solely upon the parents' choice to use joint custody as part of it. Section 19-9-5(c) lets the judge supplement the agreement on issues the agreement does not address, which is a different power from rewriting terms you did settle. That makes coverage worth attention when you draft, because a subject you leave silent is one the judge may fill in.
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Georgia lets parents arbitrate custody, and the award gets the same deference the agreement does. Under Section 19-9-1.1 parents may agree to binding arbitration on the issue of child custody and matters relative to visitation, parenting time, and a parenting plan, may select their own arbitrator, and may choose which issues go to arbitration. The arbitrator's decisions shall then be incorporated into a final decree awarding child custody unless the judge makes specific written factual findings that the award would not be in the child's best interests. Most states do not allow binding arbitration of custody at all, so this is a genuinely Georgia specific option.
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A parenting plan is required in Georgia even when the parents agree. Section 19-9-1(a) requires one in all cases in which custody of any child is at issue between the parents, with an exception where a parent is seeking emergency relief for family violence under Section 19-13-3 or Section 19-13-4, and the plan shall be required for permanent custody and modification actions while a judge may require one for temporary hearings. Parents who agree may jointly submit a single plan, while parents who cannot agree must each file and serve a proposed plan by the judge's deadline. Section 19-9-1(a) also requires the final order in any legal action involving custody, including a modification action, to incorporate a permanent parenting plan.
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Georgia's prescribed plan contents come in two groups, and only one bends to your agreement. The six operational items in Section 19-9-1(b)(2) that apply to every plan, covering the day by day schedule, holidays and special occasions, transportation, supervision, decision-making authority, and limitations on contact and access to information, are introduced by the words unless otherwise ordered by the court, or agreed upon by the parties, so the parents' own agreement is enough to displace them. The four recognitions in Section 19-9-1(b)(1) are introduced only by unless otherwise ordered by the court, so nothing short of a court order removes those. Treating all eleven as one undifferentiated checklist gets both halves wrong.
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The seventeen best interest factors in Georgia are doubly open. Section 19-9-3(a)(3) introduces them with the words the judge may consider any relevant factor including, but not limited to, so the list is illustrative and consulting it is discretionary rather than mandatory. The related findings duty at Section 19-9-3(a)(8) is triggered only if a party requests it on or before the close of evidence in a contested hearing, which means it switches off when the parents agree. Separately, Section 19-9-3(a)(5) gives a child who has reached 14 the right to select the parent with whom to live, subject to the judge's determination, and Section 19-9-3(a)(6) directs the judge to consider the desires of a child aged 11 to 13.
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Family violence in Georgia works as a hard limit on visitation rather than as a presumption against custody. Section 19-9-7 permits a judge to award visitation or parenting time to a parent who committed one or more acts involving family violence only if the judge finds that adequate provision for the safety of the child and of the parent who is a victim can be made, and it supplies conditions the judge may attach, protects the address of the child and the victim, and bars ordering an adult victim into joint counseling with the perpetrator as a condition of custody or visitation. Section 19-9-3(a)(4) adds that once the judge has found family violence, the safety and well-being of the child and of the victim parent shall be considered as primary, the perpetrator's history of causing harm shall be considered, a victim parent's absence or relocation shall not be treated as abandonment, and evidence of family violence shall not be excluded merely because there has been no previous finding of it. If this is part of your situation, it is a matter for a lawyer rather than a form.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Child Custody Agreement in Georgia, 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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Georgia Requirements for Child Custody Agreement
Parents may present the judge an agreement respecting any and all issues concerning custody, and the judge shall ratify it and make it part of the final judgment unless the judge makes specific written factual findings, as part of that judgment, that the agreement would not be in the child's best interests.
The judge shall not refuse to ratify an agreement based solely upon the parents' choice to use joint custody as part of it. The document should identify whether joint legal custody, joint physical custody, or both are intended.
The judge may supplement the agreement on issues the agreement does not address. Coverage is therefore worth attention at drafting, because a subject left silent is one a judge may fill in.
A parenting plan is required in all cases in which custody of any child is at issue between the parents, except where a parent seeks emergency relief for family violence under 19-13-3 or 19-13-4, and the final order in any custody or modification action must incorporate a permanent parenting plan. Parents who agree may jointly submit one plan.
Four recognitions must appear in the plan: continuity and a close and continuing parent-child relationship; changing needs as the child matures with parenting aimed at minimizing future modifications; day-to-day and emergency decision-making by the parent with physical custody at the time; and both parents' access to all of the child's records and information. These are prefaced only by unless otherwise ordered by the court, so the parties cannot displace them by agreement.
Seven operational items are prefaced by unless otherwise ordered by the court, or agreed upon by the parties: the day by day schedule for the year, holidays and special occasions with start and end times, transportation and exchange arrangements and cost, whether supervision is needed, allocation of decision-making with a method for resolving joint decisions, and any limitations on contact and on access to the child's information. The list is stated as including but not limited to those items.
Where the parties cannot agree and one fails to file a parenting plan, failure to comply may result in the court adopting the plan of the opposing party if the judge finds that plan to be in the child's best interests.
Parents may agree to binding arbitration on custody and matters relative to visitation, parenting time, and a parenting plan, may select their own arbitrator, and may choose which issues are arbitrated. The arbitrator's decisions are incorporated into the final decree unless the judge makes specific written factual findings that the award would not be in the child's best interests.
A parent changing residence must notify the other parent, and any other person granted visitation or parenting time, at least 30 days before the anticipated change, giving the full address of the new residence, except where otherwise provided by court order. Georgia sets no distance threshold and no objection procedure.
Visitation or parenting time may be awarded to a parent who committed one or more acts involving family violence only if the judge finds adequate provision for the safety of the child and the victim parent can be made, with safety conditions available and address confidentiality protected. Once family violence is found, the safety and well-being of the child and victim parent are considered as primary.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Nothing in the agreement operates as a custody order until the judge ratifies it into the final judgment. O.C.G.A. Section 19-9-5(a) allows parents to present the judge an agreement respecting any and all issues concerning custody, and Section 19-9-5(b) says the judge shall ratify the agreement and make it a part of the judge's final judgment. The judge can decline, but only by making specific written factual findings, as part of the final judgment, that the agreement would not be in the child's best interests. That is a procedural gate rather than an evidentiary one: no standard of proof is set, and what the statute demands is that the reasons be specific, factual, and written into the judgment itself rather than delivered from the bench.
Yes, and it has no force until the judgment takes it in. An agreement between parents is not a custody order, so neither parent can be held in contempt of a custody order until the judge ratifies it and makes it part of the final judgment under Section 19-9-5(b). Section 19-9-1(a) reinforces this from the other side by requiring the final order in any legal action involving custody of a child, including a modification action, to incorporate a permanent parenting plan.
Not on that ground alone. Section 19-9-5(b) states that the judge shall not refuse to ratify an agreement based solely upon the parents' choice to use joint custody as a part of it. The judge retains the power to decline for other reasons, but only by writing specific factual findings into the final judgment that the agreement would not be in the child's best interests. It is also worth being precise about which kind of joint custody you mean, because Section 19-9-6 defines joint physical custody as physical custody shared so as to assure the child of substantially equal time and contact with both parents, while joint legal custody is about shared decision rights, and one can be awarded without the other.
Yes. Section 19-9-1(a) requires a parenting plan in all cases in which custody of any child is at issue between the parents, with an exception where a parent is seeking emergency relief for family violence under Section 19-13-3 or Section 19-13-4. What agreement changes is the filing: parents who agree may jointly submit one plan, while parents who cannot agree must each file and serve a proposed plan by the judge's deadline. Section 19-9-1(c) adds a consequence for parents in the second group who do not file, since failure to comply may result in the court adopting the plan of the opposing party if the judge finds that plan to be in the child's best interests. A plan is required for permanent custody and modification actions, and a judge may require one for temporary hearings.
Georgia prescribes items in two groups that behave differently. The four in Section 19-9-1(b)(1) are recognitions: that a close and continuing parent-child relationship and continuity in the child's life are in the child's best interest; that the child's needs will change and the parents will parent so as to minimize future modifications; that the parent with physical custody makes day-to-day and emergency decisions while the child resides with that parent; and that both parents will have access to all of the child's records and information, including education, health, extracurricular activities, and religious communications. Those are introduced only by unless otherwise ordered by the court, so parents cannot agree their way out of them. The seven in Section 19-9-1(b)(2) cover where and when the child is in each parent's care with each day of the year designated, holidays and other special occasions with start and end times, transportation and exchanges and who pays, whether supervision is needed, allocation of decision-making authority and how joint decisions get resolved, and what limits apply on contact and on access to information. Those are introduced by unless otherwise ordered by the court, or agreed upon by the parties, so your agreement alone can displace them. Child support is calculated separately and is not settled by the plan.
Yes, which is unusual. O.C.G.A. Section 19-9-1.1 lets parents agree to binding arbitration on the issue of child custody and matters relative to visitation, parenting time, and a parenting plan, select their own arbitrator, and decide which issues go to arbitration. The arbitrator's decisions shall be incorporated into a final decree awarding child custody unless the judge makes specific written factual findings that the award would not be in the child's best interests, so the arbitrator's product travels on the same ratify or explain track that a negotiated agreement does. If you want this route, say so in the agreement and identify the arbitrator or the method for choosing one.
Section 19-9-3(a)(3) lists seventeen lettered factors, but the framing matters more than the count. They are introduced with the words the judge may consider any relevant factor including, but not limited to, so the list is illustrative rather than exhaustive and consulting it is discretionary. The list is also aimed at the judge's own determination in a contested case. The connected findings duty at Section 19-9-3(a)(8), which requires the order to set out findings of fact referencing the factors relied on, applies only if a party requests it on or before the close of evidence in a contested hearing, so it does not come into play when the parents present an agreement.
Georgia gives an older child a real say, though not the final word. Section 19-9-3(a)(5) gives a child who has reached the age of 14 the right to select the parent with whom to live, subject to the judge's determination. Section 19-9-3(a)(6) covers children aged 11 to 13, directing the judge to consider the child's desires and educational needs in determining which parent shall have custody. Neither provision changes the ratification rule for an agreement, so if your arrangement reflects the child's wishes it is worth writing the arrangement itself clearly rather than relying on the child to state a preference later.
Thirty days. Section 19-9-3(f)(3) requires a parent changing residence to give notice to the other parent, and if the mover is the custodial parent, to any other person granted visitation or parenting time, at least 30 days prior to the anticipated change of residence, including the full address of the new residence, except where otherwise provided by court order. That is a notice rule and not a relocation statute: Georgia sets no mileage or distance threshold, requires no consent from the other parent, and provides no petition, objection, or hearing procedure for a move. A parent who wants to stop or respond to a move files an ordinary custody modification action.
Georgia imposes limits rather than running a presumption. Section 19-9-7 permits a judge to award visitation or parenting time to a parent who committed one or more acts involving family violence only if the judge finds that adequate provision for the safety of the child and of the parent who is a victim of family violence can be made, and it supplies conditions the judge may attach, including exchange in a protected setting, supervision, completion of a certified family violence intervention program, abstention from alcohol or controlled substances during and before visitation, payment of a fee to defray supervision costs, no overnight visitation, and a bond for the child's safe return. The same section keeps the address of the child and the victim confidential and bars ordering an adult victim into joint counseling with the perpetrator as a condition of custody or visitation. Section 19-9-3(a)(4) adds four mandatory considerations once family violence has been found, including that the safety and well-being of the child and of the victim parent shall be considered as primary and that evidence shall not be excluded merely because there has been no previous finding of family violence. This is a situation for a lawyer.