Pennsylvania Child Custody Agreement

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   Pennsylvania gives agreeing parents a dedicated procedure rather than a shortcut past the standard. Pa.R.C.P. 1915.7 lets parties who have reached an agreement submit a proposed custody order bearing their written consent, or state the agreement on the record and comply within ten days, after which the court can memorialize the oral agreement in a written custody order. The award itself is still governed by 23 Pa.C.S. 5323(a), which allows a court to award custody only if it is in the best interest of the child and only after considering the section 5328 factors.

2. 2

   The factor list changed recently and most secondary material has not caught up. The codified amendment note on 23 Pa.C.S. 5328 shows subsection (a) amended by Act 8 of 2024 and again by Act 11 of 2025. The list now runs across nineteen numbered slots of which five, paragraphs (5), (8), (9), (10) and (13), read '(Deleted by amendment)', leaving fourteen operative factors. Act 11 also added section 5328(d), which requires the court to send every named party a copy of the factor section within 30 days of a custody complaint or petition.

3. 3

   Safety is weighted by statutory command, not by judicial habit. 23 Pa.C.S. 5328(a) requires substantial weighted consideration of paragraphs (1), (2), (2.1) and (2.2), which cover which party is more likely to ensure the safety of the child, present and past abuse by a party or a household member, child abuse and protective services information under section 5329.1(a), and violent or assaultive behavior. Section 5328(a.2) balances that by providing that no single factor is by itself determinative and that the court examines the totality of the circumstances.

4. 4

   Pennsylvania keeps the word custody but has retired the word visitation. 23 Pa.C.S. 5322(b) directs that where 'visitation' appears in a statute outside the custody chapter it may be construed to mean partial physical custody, shared physical custody, or supervised physical custody. Legal custody is the right to make major decisions including medical, religious and educational ones, while physical custody is actual physical possession and control, subdivided by share of time into sole, primary, partial and shared. Supervised physical custody is further split into professional and nonprofessional.

5. 5

   A parenting plan is optional in Pennsylvania, but its contents are prescribed. 23 Pa.C.S. 5331(a) says the court may require parties to submit parenting plans, and only in a contested custody proceeding, so parents who agree are never compelled to file one. When a plan is filed, section 5331(b) makes eight items mandatory and section 5331(c) reproduces a fill in the blank plan form inside the statute, including a decision grid allocating diet, religion, medical care, mental health care, discipline, choice of school, choice of study, school activities and sports activities. Section 5331(a) also provides that a parenting plan and a party's position set out in it are not admissible as evidence by another party.

6. 6

   The order has to be written tightly enough to be used. 23 Pa.C.S. 5323(f) requires a custody order to specify its terms in enough detail to be enforceable by law enforcement, and section 5323(g) supplies the contempt mechanism, which a private agreement that has never been entered as an order cannot reach. Section 5323(c) separately requires every custody order to contain notice of the parties' relocation obligations under section 5337, so an agreed order that omits it is defective.

7. 7

   Relocation has no mileage trigger in Pennsylvania. 23 Pa.C.S. 5322(a) defines relocation functionally, as a change in a child's residence that significantly impairs the other party's ability to exercise custodial rights, so a move across town can qualify and a longer move might not. Notice goes by certified mail, return receipt requested, no later than the 60th day before the proposed move, must enclose a blank counter-affidavit whose form section 5337(d)(1) sets out, and must warn that failing to object within 30 days forecloses objection. Section 5337(i)(1) places the burden of establishing that the relocation serves the child's best interest on the party proposing it.

Pennsylvania Requirements for Child Custody Agreement

• Consent Order Procedure Under Pa.R.C.P. 1915.7

  Parents who have reached an agreement may ask the court to enter a consent order incorporating its terms. They either submit a proposed custody order bearing their written consent, or state the agreement on the record, in which case they must comply within ten days or the court memorializes the oral agreement in a written custody order.

• Best Interest Award Standard Under 23 Pa.C.S. 5323(a)

  A Pennsylvania court may award any of the seven listed types of custody only if the award is in the best interest of the child, and only after considering the factors set out in section 5328. The standard applies to an agreed arrangement in the same terms as any other, and section 5338(a) allows a court to modify a custody order later to serve the child's best interest.

• Fourteen Operative Best Interest Factors Under 23 Pa.C.S. 5328(a)

  Subsection (a) was amended by Act 8 of 2024 and again by Act 11 of 2025. Paragraphs (5), (8), (9), (10) and (13) now read '(Deleted by amendment)', leaving fourteen operative factors across a list of nineteen numbered slots. The list is open rather than closed: the court considers all relevant factors and paragraph (16) is a catch all.

• Safety Weighting and Notice Duties Under 23 Pa.C.S. 5328(a.1), (a.2) and (d)

  Section 5328(a) requires substantial weighted consideration of the four safety factors, paragraphs (1), (2), (2.1) and (2.2). Subsection (a.1) bars weighing a factor against a party where the circumstances were a response to abuse or were necessary to protect the child or an abused party, and bars counting temporary housing instability against the party alleging abuse. Subsection (a.2) provides that no single factor is by itself determinative. Subsection (d) requires the court to send every named party a copy of the section within 30 days of a custody complaint or petition.

• Custody Vocabulary Under 23 Pa.C.S. 5322(a) and (b)

  Write the arrangement using the statutory terms: legal custody, shared or sole, for major decisions including medical, religious and educational ones, and physical custody, sole, primary, partial, shared or supervised, for actual possession and control. Supervised physical custody is split into professional and nonprofessional. Section 5322(b) construes 'visitation' in outside statutes into partial, shared or supervised physical custody, so the term should not be used as an operative label.

• Parenting Plan Contents and Statutory Form Under 23 Pa.C.S. 5331(b) and (c)

  A parenting plan is not required, but if one is filed it must contain eight items: the schedule for personal care and control including parenting time, holidays and vacations; education and religious involvement; health care; child care arrangements; transportation arrangements; a dispute resolution procedure through mediation, arbitration or other means; any matter the court specifies; and any other matter serving the child's best interest. Subsection (c) sets out a fill in the blank plan form with a decision grid covering diet, religion, medical care, mental health care, discipline, choice of school, choice of study, school activities and sports activities.

• Plan Inadmissibility Under 23 Pa.C.S. 5331(a)

  A parenting plan, and the position a party sets out in that plan, are not admissible as evidence by another party. A proposal made while the parties are trying to settle cannot be turned into evidence against the parent who made it.

• Enforceability Detail Required by 23 Pa.C.S. 5323(f) and (g)

  A custody order must specify its terms in enough detail to be enforceable by law enforcement, which means naming dates, times, and exchange locations rather than describing them loosely. Section 5323(g) supplies contempt authority for a custody order. A private agreement that has not been entered as an order cannot be enforced through that mechanism.

• Relocation Notice Clause Required in Every Order by 23 Pa.C.S. 5323(c)

  Every Pennsylvania custody order must include notice of the parties' relocation obligations under section 5337. An agreed order submitted for entry without that notice is missing a required element, so build the notice into the document rather than leaving it to the court.

• Relocation Notice, Counter-Affidavit and Burden Under 23 Pa.C.S. 5337

  Notice goes by certified mail, return receipt requested, no later than the 60th day before the proposed move, with a blank counter-affidavit enclosed and a warning that failing to object within 30 days forecloses objection. Section 5337(d)(1) reproduces the counter-affidavit form and section 5337(d)(3) presumes consent from a party who does not object in time. Section 5337(i)(1) places the burden of showing the move serves the child's best interest on the relocating party, and section 5337(i)(2) makes each party responsible for establishing the integrity of that party's own motives.