Tennessee Child Custody Agreement

The court's own findings duty falls away, and very little else does. Section 36-6-404(c)(1) directs the court to approve a permanent parenting plan upon agreement of the parties, with the entry of a final decree or judgment or with a consent order to modify one. Section 36-6-407(a) requires the court to approve agreements allocating parenting responsibilities if it finds them consistent with the limitations mandated by section 36-6-406, knowing and voluntary, and in the best interest of the child, and a 2020 amendment provides that those requirements and Rule 52.01 are conclusively satisfied upon the court's approval, with no written findings of fact and conclusions of law required. On an agreed modification, section 36-6-405(d) provides that the court is not required to inquire further and make an independent determination as to whether the modification is in the child's best interest. What does not change is the need for approval, or the standard the court would apply if it chose to look.

Yes, and unusually the statute says so directly rather than leaving it to be inferred. Section 36-6-405(d) provides that the court is not required to accept an agreement of the parties modifying a permanent parenting plan, and that the subsection does not diminish the authority of the court to make inquiry and ensure that the modification is in the best interest of the child, is entered into freely and voluntarily by both parents, and is not the product of duress, coercion, or undue influence. Section 36-6-407(a) points the same way by conditioning approval on the agreement being knowing and voluntary. In an irreconcilable differences divorce, section 36-4-103(b) requires the court to find affirmatively in its decree that the parties have made adequate and sufficient provision by written agreement for the custody and maintenance of any children before it grants the divorce.

Yes. Section 36-6-404(a) provides that any final decree or decree of modification in an action for absolute divorce, legal separation, annulment, or separate maintenance involving a minor child shall incorporate a permanent parenting plan, so the plan becomes the order rather than sitting beside it. A temporary parenting plan is required in a temporary order in those same actions under section 36-6-403, except that if the parties can agree to a temporary parenting plan, no written temporary parenting plan is required to be entered. On a modification, section 36-6-405(a) requires a proposed plan to be filed and served with the petition and with the response, unless the modification pertains only to child support.

Section 36-6-404 sets out what the plan must do. It must provide for the child's changing needs as the child grows and matures so as to minimize the need for further modifications, establish the authority and responsibilities of each parent with respect to the child, minimize the child's exposure to harmful parental conflict, provide a process for dispute resolution before court action unless precluded or limited by section 36-6-406, allocate decision-making authority over the child's education, health care, extracurricular activities and religious upbringing, provide that each parent may make day-to-day decisions while the child is residing with that parent, provide for a good faith effort at dispute resolution where mutual decision-making is designated but cannot be achieved, require the support obligor to report income annually on a date certain on a form provided by the court, and specify that a parent without a valid driver license shall make acceptable transportation arrangements. It also carries the residential schedule and the primary residential parent designation, and section 36-6-101(a)(3)(C) requires the notarized signature of the filing party or of both parties where filed jointly.

The obligation shifts to each parent separately, on a deadline. Section 36-6-404(c)(3) provides that if the parties have not reached agreement on a permanent parenting plan by forty-five days before the date set for trial, each party must file and serve a proposed permanent parenting plan, with a verified statement of income and a verified statement that the plan is proposed in good faith and is in the child's best interest. The same subdivision adds that failure to comply may result in the court's adoption of the plan filed by the opposing party. Agreeing avoids that exchange entirely.

Section 36-6-402 defines the primary residential parent as the parent with whom the child resides more than fifty percent of the time. Section 36-6-410 explains what the label is for: a parenting plan designates the primary residential parent solely for the purpose of all other state and federal statutes that require such a designation, and the designation does not affect either parent's rights and responsibilities under the parenting plan. In the absence of a designation, the parent with whom the child is scheduled to reside a majority of the time is deemed to be the primary residential parent. Where the child is scheduled to reside an equal amount of time with both parents the parents may agree to a designation as joint primary residential parents or to waive the designation altogether, but in the absence of an agreement a single primary residential parent must be designated.

They are set out at section 36-6-106(a), which directs the court to consider all relevant factors with the best interest of the child always being paramount, including the listed factors where applicable. As of July 1, 2026 the list runs to eighteen subdivisions, and it is open rather than closed: the final subdivision reaches any other factors deemed relevant by the court, and the opening words are not limiting. The section has been amended in several recent legislative sessions, so counts published in earlier years describe earlier versions of the same list. Since 2026 the list also governs the residential schedule in full, and relocation determinations under section 36-6-108 draw on it as well.

Not necessarily. Section 36-4-103(g) provides that notwithstanding any law to the contrary requiring mediation, filing with the court a properly executed marital dissolution agreement and, where there are minor children, a properly executed parenting plan removes any requirement that the parties attend mediation. The relief is conditional: if the court does not approve either the marital dissolution agreement or the parenting plan, any requirement to attend mediation is reinstated as of the date of the court's rejection. Note the shape of that rule. Agreement can take mediation out of the case, but it does not take the court out of it.

Section 36-6-108 applies once custody or co-parenting has been established by a permanent parenting plan or final order. A parent who spends intervals of time with the child and wishes to relocate outside the state, or more than fifty miles from the other parent within the state, must send notice by registered or certified mail, and unless excused by the court for exigent circumstances the notice must be mailed not later than sixty days before the move. The notice must state the intent to move, the location of the proposed new residence, and the reasons for the proposed relocation. If the parents agree on a new visitation schedule within thirty days, or the non-relocating parent does not object within thirty days of the date the notice was sent, the relocating parent will be permitted to move by law. Only on objection does the relocating parent petition the court, which then determines whether relocation is in the child's best interest on eight enumerated factors, including any other factor affecting the child's best interest.