A parenting agreement is another word for custody agreement and parenting plan.
Basically, your parenting agreement should contain the information about your child custody arrangements after you and the other parent divorce or separate. You make this agreement so that the state you live in knows that your child will still be cared for after the parents are separated. The agreement is also helpful for you and the other parent–it lets you specify how you and the other parent will share the responsibility of caring for the child.
Almost every state requires that divorced parents submit parenting agreements to the court. Some states have specific requirements for the agreement, and some states leave it all up to the parents. You should check your local custody laws to make sure that your agreement has everything it needs to. There are even some counties that have regulations–so you need to check with those laws as well.
Most states accept an agreement that contains a custody and visitation schedule and parenting provisions. The parenting provisions should contain the information about legal custody that you and the other parent have decided. You may also need to add provisions based on what the state mandates. Many states require that parents add provisions to the agreement that cover how the parents will resolve disputes, how the parents will make changes to the plan, how the parents will handle visitation transportation, etc. These are actually good provisions to put in any agreement–even if your state doesn’t have the requirement.
Your parenting agreement should be made in the best interest of the child. This is a law in every state–all custody decisions are made with the child’s best welfare in mind. Most of the time it is best for the child to have frequent contact and visitation with both parents. More and more states have joint custody as the best default option. If you want a different type of arrangement, you need to show how it is in the child’s best interest.