California Custody Agreement Template: Forms, Schedule, and Filing

A California custody agreement template is built from two Judicial Council forms: Form FL-355, the stipulation cover sheet, and Form FL-341, the detailed custody and visitation attachment. Both parents fill them out together, sign them, file them with the court clerk, and a judge reviews and signs the agreement into a binding order with the same force as any custody decision made after a contested trial.¹ The forms are free, available online or at any courthouse self-help center, and you don’t need a lawyer to use them.

The Core Forms

Form FL-355, “Stipulation and Order for Custody and/or Visitation (Parenting Time),” is the cover page where both parents indicate they’ve reached a deal.² It identifies the petitioner, the respondent, and the case number. The case number has to match your existing family court case, because the clerk files your agreement into that record.

Form FL-341 is where the actual terms live: types of custody, the weekly schedule, transportation, travel restrictions, and the holiday calendar.³ It also points to several optional sub-attachments:

FL-341(A), supervised visitation, used when one parent’s time must be monitored by a third party.
FL-341(C), the holiday schedule attachment, with checkboxes for major holidays and space for custom arrangements.
FL-341(E), the legal custody attachment, which details which decisions require both parents’ agreement.

You only attach the sub-forms you actually need. The combination of FL-355, FL-341, and the chosen attachments is your complete agreement.

Legal Custody and Physical Custody

FL-341 asks you to pick a custody type, and California treats the two kinds separately. Legal custody controls who makes major decisions about the child’s health, education, and welfare.⁴ Joint legal custody shares that authority; sole legal custody gives one parent the final say.

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

When both parents agree to joint custody, California law presumes the arrangement serves the child’s best interest.⁶ That presumption is why most stipulated agreements get signed without the judge rewriting anything.

Writing the Weekly Schedule

FL-341 asks for a detailed residential schedule covering a normal week. Specify exact days and transition times. “Every other weekend” invites arguments about what the weekend is. “Friday at 5:00 p.m. through Sunday at 6:00 p.m., alternating weeks beginning [date]” doesn’t.

The form also covers transportation: 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, FL-341 includes a provision for one parent to wait in the car while the other stays inside during exchanges. Vague exchange language is one of the most common sources of post-judgment conflict, so write it tightly.

Holidays and Vacations

Holiday time overrides the regular weekly schedule, and FL-341(C) is the dedicated attachment for it.³ It covers Thanksgiving, winter break, spring break, and summer vacation, with space to write in birthdays, three-day weekends, and other dates meaningful to your family.

A common approach is alternating by odd and even years: one parent has Thanksgiving in odd years, the other in even years, with Christmas swapped. Whatever you pick, write the specific start and end dates and times. “Thanksgiving break” means different things to different school districts, so tie the schedule to your child’s actual school calendar.

Decision-Making Under Joint Legal Custody

If you pick joint legal custody, FL-341(E) is where you list which decisions need both parents to discuss and agree:⁷

Enrolling in or leaving a particular public or private school or daycare.
Out-of-state or international travel.
Signing the child up for sports, clubs, or other organized activities.
Starting or ending mental health treatment.
Participation in specific religious institutions or practices.
Choosing doctors, dentists, or specialists, except in emergencies.

FL-341(E) also includes a consequences section: if one parent acts without the other’s consent, it can trigger penalties or even a change in custody. Both parents are required to administer any prescribed medications and are each authorized to consent to emergency medical treatment, with an obligation to notify the other parent as soon as possible afterward.⁷

Right of First Refusal

A right of first refusal clause requires the parent who has the child during their scheduled time to offer that time to the other parent if they can’t be there themselves. The standard forms don’t include this clause, so you add it on an extra sheet attached to your agreement. Make it specific: define the time threshold that triggers it (four hours is typical), how the offer gets communicated, how long the other parent has to respond, and who handles transportation. Carve-outs for grandparent visits, school hours, or pre-paid activities keep the provision workable.

Access to School and Medical Records

FL-341 confirms that both parents have access to their child’s school and medical records.³ Federal law backs this up: FERPA requires schools to give full access to both custodial and noncustodial parents unless a court order specifically revokes that right.⁸ FERPA doesn’t require schools to send duplicate newsletters, lunch menus, or conference invitations to the noncustodial parent, though, so address that in your agreement if it matters to you.

Travel Restrictions and Relocation

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 Where international abduction is a concern, Family Code Section 3048 lets the court go further by ordering passport surrender, requiring round-trip tickets and itineraries, or posting a bond.

Relocation is a bigger issue. Family Code Section 3024 allows a custody order to require at least 45 days’ written notice by certified mail before a parent moves with the child to a new residence for more than 30 days. The notice window exists so the parents can mediate a new arrangement before the move. If your agreement is silent on relocation, the court may add a notice provision anyway, so it’s better to write terms you both find reasonable now.

Filing the Agreement

Once both parents (and any attorneys) have signed, take the originals to the court clerk’s office.² Notarization is not required for these Judicial Council forms.

The filing fee for a stipulation is generally $20.⁹ If one parent hasn’t yet paid the initial case filing fee (currently $435 to $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

The paperwork then goes to a judge for review. If approved, the judge signs it and it becomes an enforceable court order. Pick up your filed copies from the clerk and keep them somewhere accessible — you’ll need the signed order to enforce the terms or to ask for a modification later.¹

What the Judge Looks For

Filing a signed stipulation doesn’t guarantee approval. Under Family Code Section 3011, the judge checks the agreement against the child’s best interest, weighing:¹¹

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.
Habitual or ongoing use of illegal drugs, alcohol abuse, or misuse of prescription medication by either parent.

Most stipulated agreements get approved because mutual consent triggers the statutory presumption in favor of the arrangement.⁶ Pushback usually comes when an agreement gives one parent almost no time, uses vague or unenforceable language, or raises safety flags. If either parent has a domestic violence finding within the past five years, California law creates a strong presumption against awarding that parent custody, and overcoming it requires completing programs like batterer’s intervention, substance abuse counseling, and parenting classes.

Changing the Agreement Later

Either parent can petition to modify a joint custody order when the child’s best interest requires it, and if the other parent opposes the change, the court must explain in writing why modification is or isn’t appropriate.¹² Common triggers are a parent’s relocation, a significant work schedule change, the child’s evolving needs, or new safety concerns. Minor inconveniences or personality conflicts generally don’t clear the bar. If both parents agree on the changes, you can file a new stipulation using the same FL-355 and FL-341 and skip a contested hearing entirely.

One Thing the Agreement Does Not Control: Taxes

A custody agreement does not, by itself, decide which parent claims the child on their federal tax return. By default, the parent the child lives with for more than half the year gets the dependency claim. To let the other parent claim the child, the custodial parent must sign IRS Form 8332, which releases the claim for a specific year or for all future years.¹³

Form 8332 only transfers certain benefits. The noncustodial parent can then 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 stay with the custodial parent regardless.¹³ A line in your custody agreement saying the noncustodial parent “gets to claim the child” is not enough for the IRS. If you plan to alternate years or split tax benefits between multiple children, write it into your parenting plan and sign Form 8332 each year it applies.

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