Texas Child Custody Agreement

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   Agreeing gets Texas parents no deference. Section 153.007(b) lets the court render an order matching an agreed parenting plan only if it finds the plan is in the child's best interest, which is a finding the judge must make in your favor before the plan can be adopted, not a finding needed to reject it. If the court finds the plan is not in the child's best interest, Section 153.007(d) lets it ask for a revised plan and, if no satisfactory plan is submitted, render its own after notice and hearing.

2. 2

   An unrendered Texas custody agreement is worth nothing on its own. Section 153.007(c) provides that agreed parenting plan terms placed in the order or incorporated by reference may be enforced by all remedies available for enforcement of a judgment, including contempt, but are not enforceable as a contract. There is no fallback breach of contract claim in Texas if the paper was never turned into an order, so filing is not a formality.

3. 3

   Texas vocabulary is different all the way down. Instead of custody and visitation, Chapter 153 uses managing conservator, possessory conservator, and possession of and access to the child, and one parent typically holds the exclusive right to designate the child's primary residence. Decision making is not a single legal custody label either: the rights and duties over the child are itemized and allocated to each parent independently, jointly, or exclusively, which Section 153.133(a)(4) requires an agreed joint managing conservatorship plan to spell out.

4. 4

   The parenting plan is part of the order, not a separate filing. Section 153.601(4) defines a parenting plan as the provisions of a final court order that set out each parent's rights and duties, provide periods of possession and access, provide for child support, and optimize the child's relationship with each parent, and Section 153.603(a) requires a final order in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship to include one, with narrow exceptions in 153.603(b). Texas also runs the opposite way on temporary plans: Section 153.602 says a court may not require the submission of a temporary parenting plan in any case or by local rule or practice.

5. 5

   An agreed plan seeking joint managing conservatorship has six required contents under Section 153.133(a). Two of them are unusual and worth reading twice: the plan must state that it is voluntarily and knowingly made by each parent and not repudiated by either at the time the order is rendered, and it must state that the plan is in the child's best interest. Because of the non-repudiation requirement, a Texas parent can withdraw consent right up to the moment the judge renders the order.

6. 6

   Texas has no relocation statute. There is no mileage trigger and no notice-and-object procedure for a move; instead Section 153.133(a)(1) makes the agreed plan either fix a geographic area within which the conservator with the exclusive right to designate the primary residence must keep that residence, or state expressly that the residence may be designated without regard to geographic location. What your family's move-away rule is depends entirely on which of those two the plan chooses, and changing it later means going back to court to modify the order.

7. 7

   Family violence produces a hard limit, not a factor. Section 153.004(b) says the court may not appoint joint managing conservators on credible evidence of a history or pattern of past or present child neglect or physical or sexual abuse by one parent directed against the other parent, a spouse, or a child, and it adds a rebuttable presumption against naming that parent sole managing conservator or the conservator who designates the primary residence. On a preponderance showing of family violence in the two years before filing or during the suit, Section 153.004(d) bars access altogether unless the court makes the express safety findings in 153.004(d-1). If any of this is present in your situation, talk to a lawyer rather than work from a form.

Texas Requirements for Child Custody Agreement

• Agreed Parenting Plan Under Tex. Fam. Code 153.007(a)

  Texas parents may enter a written agreed parenting plan covering conservatorship, possession and access, and modification, including terms that vary from the Standard Possession Order. The agreement should be drafted as that instrument rather than as a private contract.

• Best Interest Finding Before Rendition Under Tex. Fam. Code 153.007(b) and (d)

  The court renders an order in accordance with an agreed parenting plan only if it finds the plan is in the child's best interest. If it finds otherwise, it may request a revised plan and, if no satisfactory plan is submitted, render its own after notice and hearing.

• No Contract Enforcement Under Tex. Fam. Code 153.007(c)

  Agreed parenting plan terms placed in the order or incorporated by reference are enforceable by all remedies available for enforcement of a judgment, including contempt, but are not enforceable as a contract. The document has no independent force before rendition.

• Required Contents of an Agreed Joint Managing Conservatorship Plan Under Tex. Fam. Code 153.133(a)

  An agreed plan seeking joint managing conservatorship must designate who has the exclusive right to designate the child's primary residence, address geographic area, allocate rights and duties, minimize disruption to the child, and state that it is voluntarily and knowingly made, not repudiated at rendition, and in the child's best interest.

• Geographic Residency Restriction Under Tex. Fam. Code 153.133(a)(1)

  The plan must either fix a geographic area within which the child's primary residence is maintained until modified by further order, or state expressly that the residence may be designated without regard to geographic location. Texas has no separate relocation statute, so this clause is the move-away rule.

• Conservatorship and Possession Terminology Under Tex. Fam. Code ch. 153

  Chapter 153 is titled Conservatorship, Possession, and Access. The document should name managing and possessory conservators and describe possession of and access to the child, rather than using custody and visitation language.

• Standard Possession Order Presumption Under Tex. Fam. Code 153.252

  The Standard Possession Order is presumed to be in the child's best interest, and an agreed plan may adopt it or set out agreed amendments to it. A schedule that departs from it should be identified as such in the document.

• Parenting Plan Required in the Final Order Under Tex. Fam. Code 153.603 and 153.601(4)

  A final order in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship must include a parenting plan, subject to narrow exceptions, and the plan is defined as provisions of the final order rather than a standalone filing. Section 153.602 separately bars any court or local rule from requiring a temporary parenting plan.

• Mediated Settlement Agreements Under Tex. Fam. Code 153.0071(d) to (e-1)

  A mediated settlement agreement is binding if it carries a prominently displayed non-revocation statement in boldfaced type, capital letters, or underlined, and is signed by each party and by each party's attorney present at the signing, and it entitles a party to judgment notwithstanding other rules of law, subject only to the narrow family violence and abuse exception.

• Family Violence Limits Under Tex. Fam. Code 153.004 and 153.131(b)

  Credible evidence of a history or pattern of neglect or physical or sexual abuse bars appointment of joint managing conservators and raises presumptions against sole managing conservatorship and unsupervised visitation, and a preponderance showing of family violence bars access absent express safety findings and a protective possession order.