California Custody Agreement Template: Forms, Schedule, and Filing

A California custody agreement template is built from two Judicial Council forms: FL-355, the stipulation cover sheet, and FL-341, the detailed custody and visitation attachment. Both parents fill them out together, sign, and file with the court clerk. Once a judge signs the paperwork, it becomes an enforceable court order carrying the same weight as anything a judge could impose after a trial.¹

The Two Forms That Do the Work

Form FL-355, “Stipulation and Order for Custody and/or Visitation (Parenting Time),” is the cover page. It identifies the petitioner (the parent who filed the case), the respondent, and the case number.² The case number has to match your existing court file, because the clerk is adding your agreement to a case that’s already open.

Form FL-341 is where the actual agreement lives. It sets out custody type, the weekly schedule, transportation, travel restrictions, and holidays.³ It also points to several sub-attachments you use only if they apply:

FL-341(A) covers supervised visitation when one parent’s time must be monitored.
FL-341(C) is the holiday schedule.
FL-341(E) is the legal custody attachment, which spells out how joint decisions get made.

All of these are free to download from the California Courts website or available in print at your local courthouse self-help center.

Legal Custody vs. Physical Custody

Your agreement has to address both types of custody. Legal custody controls who makes decisions about the child’s health, education, and welfare.⁴ Joint legal custody means both parents share that authority. Sole legal custody gives one parent the final say.

Physical custody determines where the child actually lives. Joint physical custody means each parent has meaningful time, arranged to maintain frequent and continuing contact with both households.⁵ It doesn’t require a perfect 50/50 split. A 60/40 or 70/30 arrangement can still qualify.

When parents agree to joint custody, California law creates a presumption that the arrangement serves the child’s best interest.⁶ That presumption is a big reason stipulated agreements move through the court more easily than contested ones.

Writing the Parenting Schedule

FL-341 asks for a residential schedule covering the child’s time with each parent during a normal week. Specific days and clock times work; general phrases don’t. “Every other weekend” invites arguments about what counts as the weekend. “Friday at 5:00 p.m. through Sunday at 6:00 p.m., alternating weeks beginning [date]” doesn’t.

The form also asks about transportation logistics: who drives, where exchanges happen, and the expectation that whoever transports the child uses a properly licensed, insured vehicle with the right car seat.³ If there’s tension between the parents, the form includes a provision where one parent waits in the car while the other stays inside during exchanges. Vague exchange terms generate more post-judgment conflict than almost anything else in a parenting plan.

Holidays and Vacations

Holiday time overrides the regular weekly schedule. FL-341(C), the Holiday Schedule Attachment, has checkboxes for the major holidays and space to write in custom arrangements.³ A common approach is alternating by odd and even years: one parent gets Thanksgiving in odd years, the other in even years, with Christmas swapped accordingly.

Include the specific dates and times each holiday period begins and ends. “Thanksgiving break” means different things to different school districts, so tie the schedule to your child’s actual school calendar where you can. Do the same for winter break, spring break, summer vacation, birthdays, and any three-day weekends that matter to your family.

Decision-Making Rules for Joint Legal Custody

If you’re going with joint legal custody, FL-341(E) is where you list which decisions require both parents to discuss and agree. The form covers these categories:⁷

Enrolling the child in or removing them from a particular public or private school or daycare.
Taking the child out of state or out of the country.
Signing up for sports, clubs, or other extracurricular activities.
Starting or ending therapy, counseling, or other mental health treatment.
Participation in specific religious activities or institutions.
Choosing doctors, dentists, or specialists (except in emergencies).

The form also has a consequences section. If one parent makes a decision without the other’s consent, penalties or a change in custody can follow. Both parents are required to administer prescribed medications, and either parent is individually authorized to consent to emergency medical treatment, with an obligation to notify the other as soon as possible afterward.⁷

Right of First Refusal

A right of first refusal clause says that if the parent scheduled to have the child can’t be there, they have to offer the time to the other parent before calling a babysitter. This isn’t on the standard forms, so you add it on an extra sheet attached to your agreement. It works best when it’s specific: a time threshold that triggers it (four hours is typical), how the offer gets communicated, a response window, and who handles transportation. Some parents carve out exceptions for grandparent visits, school hours, or pre-paid activities.

Access to School and Medical Records

FL-341 includes a section confirming both parents have access to their child’s school and medical records.³ This lines up with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which requires schools to give full access to both custodial and noncustodial parents unless a court order specifically revokes it.⁸ FERPA doesn’t require schools to send duplicate newsletters, lunch menus, or conference invitations to the noncustodial parent. If staying looped in on school events matters to you, spell it out in your agreement.

Travel and Relocation Terms

FL-341 lets you restrict a parent from taking the child outside California, outside specific counties, or outside the country without written permission from the other parent or a court order.³ If there’s concern about international abduction, the court can go further under Family Code Section 3048: ordering passport surrender, prohibiting new passport applications, requiring round-trip tickets and detailed itineraries, or posting a bond.

Relocation is separate. Under Family Code Section 3024, a custody order can require a parent to give at least 45 days’ written notice by certified mail before moving with the child to a new residence for more than 30 days. The 45-day window exists to allow mediation of a new custody arrangement before the move. Address relocation in your own terms rather than leaving it for the judge to add later.

Filing, Fees, and Judge Review

Once the forms are complete, both parents sign. If either parent has an attorney, the attorney signs as well.² Notarization isn’t required. Take the signed originals to the court clerk’s office.

The filing fee for a stipulation is generally $20.⁹ If one parent hasn’t yet paid their initial filing fee in the case (currently $435–$450), the clerk may require that too. Parents who can’t afford the cost can submit Form FW-001 to ask the court to waive fees based on low income or receipt of public benefits.¹⁰

Filing a stipulation doesn’t guarantee approval. A judge reviews every agreement against the child’s best interest. Under Family Code Section 3011, the court weighs the health, safety, and welfare of the child; any history of abuse against the child, the other parent, or a household member; whether the arrangement allows meaningful contact with both parents; and any habitual or ongoing substance abuse.¹¹ In practice judges approve most stipulated agreements because mutual consent triggers the statutory presumption favoring the arrangement.⁶ A judge is more likely to push back on an agreement that leaves one parent with virtually no time, uses vague or unenforceable language, or raises safety concerns.

Once the judge signs, pick up your filed copies from the clerk and keep them somewhere accessible. You’ll need the signed order to enforce the terms or request a modification.¹

Changing the Agreement Later

A custody order that works when your child is three may not fit when they’re thirteen. Either parent can petition the court to modify a joint custody order when the child’s best interest requires it.¹² Common triggers are a parent’s relocation, a significant change in work schedule, the child’s evolving needs, or new safety concerns. Minor inconveniences generally don’t clear the bar. If you and the other parent agree on the changes, you can file a new stipulation using the same FL-355 and FL-341 forms and skip a contested hearing.

Claiming the Child on Taxes

A California custody agreement doesn’t automatically decide who claims the child on a federal tax return. By default, the custodial parent (the one the child lives with more than half the year) gets the dependency claim. To let the noncustodial parent claim the child instead, the custodial parent has to sign IRS Form 8332, releasing the exemption for a specific year or for all future years.¹³

Form 8332 only transfers some benefits. The noncustodial parent who receives the release can claim the Child Tax Credit and the Credit for Other Dependents. The Earned Income Credit, the Child and Dependent Care Credit, and Head of Household filing status always stay with the custodial parent regardless of any Form 8332 arrangement.¹³ A custody agreement that says the noncustodial parent “gets to claim the child” isn’t enough on its own. The IRS requires the actual Form 8332 or a substantially identical substitute whose sole purpose is to serve as that release. If you plan to alternate years or split benefits between multiple children, spell it out in your parenting plan and make sure Form 8332 gets signed accordingly each year.

1
California Courts | Self Help Guide. Prepare a Custody and Visitation (Parenting Time) Agreement
2
Judicial Council of California. Stipulation and Order for Custody and/or Visitation (Parenting Time)
3
Judicial Council of California. FL-341 Child Custody and Visitation (Parenting Time) Order
4
California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 3003
5
California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 3004
6
California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 3080
7
Judicial Council of California. FL-341(E) Legal Custody Attachment
8
National Center for Education Statistics. Rights of Noncustodial Parents in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
9
California Courts | Self Help Guide. Make Your Agreement a Court Order
10
California Courts. Request to Waive Court Fees
11
California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 3011
12
California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 3087
13
Internal Revenue Service. Form 8332 Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent