South Carolina Child Custody Agreement

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   South Carolina attaches no special legal weight to the fact that you agreed. There is no statutory presumption in favor of an agreed arrangement and no provision requiring a court to adopt what the parents filed. The contrast inside South Carolina's own code is sharp: section 20-3-130(G) expressly empowers the family court to review and approve agreements bearing on alimony, and there is no parallel provision for custody. What agreeing does change is the workload, because two statutory duties are triggered only by disagreement.

2. 2

   Under section 63-15-220(A), each parent must prepare, file and submit a parenting plan only at temporary hearings where custody is contested, and the parties may elect to file one joint plan instead. At a final hearing the plan is optional, because section 63-15-220(B) says either party may file and submit an updated parenting plan for the court's consideration. There is no plan requirement at all where custody is uncontested, and the same subsection provides that a party's failure to submit a plan does not preclude the court from issuing a temporary or final custody order.

3. 3

   The court still makes the decision. Section 63-15-230(A) provides that the court shall make the final custody determination in the best interest of the child based upon the evidence presented, and section 63-15-240(A) treats approval of a parenting plan as something a custody order may include rather than must include. A judge told by statute to decide on the evidence is not bound by the parents' choice, so the arrangement carries legal force only once the court enters an order adopting it.

4. 4

   Joint custody in South Carolina is a decision-making label, not a schedule. Section 63-15-210(1) defines joint custody to mean that both parents have equal rights and responsibilities for major decisions concerning the child, including the child's education, medical and dental care, extracurricular activities, and religious training. The same definition lets a judge designate one parent to have sole authority over specific, identified decisions while both parents retain equal rights over everything else. Where the child sleeps travels separately, and section 63-15-230(D) makes that explicit: notwithstanding the custody determination, the court may allocate parenting time in the best interest of the child.

5. 5

   Section 63-15-240(B) sets out seventeen best interest factors, and the list is open at both ends. The chapeau says the court must consider the best interest of the child, which may include but is not limited to the listed factors, and the seventeenth is other factors as the court considers necessary. Several are worth drafting around: factor (7) reaches manipulation or coercive behavior used to involve the child in the parents' dispute, factor (8) reaches any effort by one parent to disparage the other in front of the child, and factor (12) provides that a proposed custodial parent's disability must not in and of itself be determinative of custody.

6. 6

   Two mandatory considerations sit outside the seventeen and are easy to miss. Section 63-15-30 requires the court to consider the child's reasonable preference, giving weight to the child's age, experience, maturity, judgment, and ability to express a preference. Section 63-15-40(A) requires the court to give weight to evidence of domestic violence, including evidence of which party was the primary aggressor. Section 63-15-40(B) adds a protection for the person who left, providing that a victim's absence or relocation from the home must not be considered sufficient cause, absent other factors, to deny custody where that person is not the primary aggressor.

7. 7

   Domestic violence operates as a precondition on visitation rather than as a presumption. Section 63-15-50(A) allows a court to award visitation to a person found by a court to have committed domestic violence, or found to have been the primary aggressor where complaints were made against both parties, only if the court finds that adequate provision for the safety of the child and the victim of domestic violence can be made. Section 63-15-50(B) then supplies a menu of conditions, including exchanges in a protected setting, supervised visitation, completion of a batterer intervention program, abstention from alcohol for the 24 hours preceding visitation, no overnight visitation, a bond against unlawful retention of the child, and confidentiality of the child's address. There is no rebuttable presumption against custody for a perpetrator anywhere in the chapter, so if there has been abuse or a protective order, this is a situation to raise with a lawyer rather than settle on a form.

South Carolina Requirements for Child Custody Agreement

• Parenting Plan at Contested Temporary Hearings, S.C. Code Ann. 63-15-220(A)

  At all temporary hearings where custody is contested, each parent must prepare, file and submit a parenting plan, and the parties may elect to file one joint plan instead. There is no plan requirement where custody is uncontested, and failure to submit one does not preclude the court from issuing a temporary or final custody order.

• Parenting Plan Contents, S.C. Code Ann. 63-15-220

  A parenting plan reflects parental preferences, the allocation of parenting time to be spent with each parent, and major decisions, including but not limited to the child's education, medical and dental care, extracurricular activities, and religious training. The contents list is expressly open.

• Final Custody Determination by the Court, S.C. Code Ann. 63-15-230(A)

  The court shall make the final custody determination in the best interest of the child based upon the evidence presented. An agreement does not displace that determination, and the arrangement is enforceable only once the court enters an order.

• Reasoned Custody Options in Contested Cases, S.C. Code Ann. 63-15-230(C)

  If custody is contested, or if either parent seeks an award of joint custody, the court must consider all custody options and state its reasoning. Parents who agree and do not seek joint custody do not trigger this duty.

• Definition of Joint Custody, S.C. Code Ann. 63-15-210(1)

  Joint custody means both parents have equal rights and responsibilities for major decisions concerning the child, including education, medical and dental care, extracurricular activities, and religious training. One parent may be designated to have sole authority over specific, identified decisions while both retain equal rights over the rest.

• Parenting Time Allocated Separately, S.C. Code Ann. 63-15-230(D)

  Notwithstanding the custody determination, the court may allocate parenting time in the best interest of the child. Because the custody label does not set the schedule, the document should state the residential schedule in full.

• Best Interest Factors, S.C. Code Ann. 63-15-240(B)

  Seventeen factors apply in issuing or modifying a custody order, and the list is open at both ends. They include manipulation or coercive behavior involving the child in the dispute, efforts to disparage the other parent in front of the child, a rule that a proposed custodial parent's disability is not in and of itself determinative, and a move of more than one hundred miles from the child's primary residence in the past year unless made for safety reasons.

• Child's Reasonable Preference, S.C. Code Ann. 63-15-30

  The court must consider the child's reasonable preference for custody and give it weight based on the child's age, experience, maturity, judgment, and ability to express a preference. This duty sits outside the seventeen factors.

• Domestic Violence Safety Finding, S.C. Code Ann. 63-15-50(A) and (B)

  Visitation may be awarded to a person found to have committed domestic violence, or found to be the primary aggressor on cross-complaints, only if the court finds adequate provision for the safety of the child and the victim can be made. The court may impose conditions including protected-setting exchanges, supervised visitation, a batterer intervention program, alcohol abstention for the 24 hours preceding visitation, no overnight visitation, a bond, and address confidentiality.

• In-State Relocation and Agreed Restrictions, S.C. Code Ann. 63-3-530(A)(30)

  The family court may not order that a custodial parent not move a residence to a location within the State unless it finds a compelling reason or the parties have agreed to such a prohibition. Parents who want an in-state restriction, or a notice period South Carolina does not otherwise prescribe, have to write it into the agreement.