Agreement on the procedure for exercising parental rights: sample 2021

When is an agreement necessary?

The agreement is drawn up by the spouses before filing documents for divorce, during the divorce process or after the dissolution of the marriage. Most often, children remain with their mothers, so the agreement is primarily intended to protect the rights of fathers, enshrined in family law.

In particular in Art. 66 of the RF IC states that when living separately, a parent has the right to participate in his upbringing, education and communicate with him, and the other parent cannot interfere with this. An exception is the deprivation or restriction of a father's parental rights, when communication with a minor is prohibited by a court decision if it poses a danger to the psychological or physiological health of the child.

It is impossible to prevent children from communicating with the other parent for several reasons:

This violates the child’s rights and interests to communicate with his mother or father.
The act provides for administrative liability. If the second spouse applies to the court with a claim to establish the order of communication with the child, and the court decision is not fulfilled by the second party, a more severe punishment is applied for two reasons: violation of the child’s rights and non-compliance with the requirements of the decision.

Thus, the spouses formalize an agreement to avoid disagreements. They can independently determine who the children stay with when the other parent sees them. It is also possible to establish an additional condition - the specifics of alimony payment.

Important! The agreement can only include conditions affecting the interests of the child - payment of alimony, determination of the place of residence with the mother or father, as well as the establishment of a procedure for the exercise of parental rights. For the voluntary division of property, a separate agreement is drawn up.

It is also worth considering that, despite the possibility of resolving issues peacefully, if there are common minor children, the divorce in any case is carried out in court. To do this, the husband or wife must submit an application to the magistrate's court at the place of registration of the defendant, participate in the hearings and receive an extract from the decision, or ask the court to send it to the registry office themselves. At the final stage, a divorce certificate is issued.

Settlement agreement to determine the order of communication between a child and a parent

At any time during the trial, the parties can enter into a settlement agreement to determine the order of communication between the child and the parent. In the settlement agreement, the parents specify the necessary points regarding the order of communication between the parent and the child.

After signing, the court issues a ruling on approval of the settlement agreement, where it explains to the parties the consequences of signing the agreement, according to which repeated appeal to the court between the same parties, on the same subject and on the same grounds is not allowed. After which the court terminates the proceedings.

How to draw up an agreement: step-by-step instructions

To conclude an agreement, it is enough to use the following algorithm:

Determine for yourself what issues it will solve. It is recommended to draw up a draft version before visiting the notary, and fill out the final version when visiting the notary’s office.
Contact a notary with documents and a draft agreement.
The notary examines documents for legal accuracy, and if there are deficiencies, makes corrections or suggests solutions.
An agreement is concluded. It must be signed by all parties: the divorcing party and the witness. The document is drawn up in three copies: one is given to the spouses, and the third remains in the archives of the notary’s office.

As you can see from the above, document certification does not require much effort. Now let's look at how everything happens during a divorce in practice:

The Rodionov couple decided to divorce in 2021 by mutual consent. They have two children - a son and a daughter. In order to avoid lengthy legal proceedings, before filing a lawsuit in court, the husband and wife decided to draw up several agreements - on the exercise of parental rights, which included the collection of alimony and determination of the place of residence of children - as well as on the division of jointly acquired property. When filing a lawsuit in court, they also submitted agreements. The documents were reviewed by the court, no questions arose regarding them. Considering the impossibility of saving the family, the judge decided to dissolve the marriage after 1 month; no reconciliation period was set.

After another 1 month, the parties received a divorce certificate. All issues regarding communication with children are regulated by agreements. Before the divorce, the former spouses decided to leave the daughter with the mother and the son with the father, while both must pay alimony to each other in the amount of 25% of the salary. This obligation is specified in Art. 80 IC RF.

Contents of the agreement

The law does not establish a unified form of agreement, but for objectivity it must contain the following information:

FULL NAME. parties, registration addresses, passport details.
FULL NAME. all children, information from children's birth certificates.
The very essence: in what order will parental rights be exercised, the mother’s responsibilities to provide the child for meetings and communication with the father, indicating a specific duration and frequency, or at any convenient time. Other issues should also be considered: whether a minor can go on vacation with another parent, at what time and for how many days; the possibility of living with the other party during the holidays, etc.
Rights and obligations of the parties. The mother must comply with the child provision clauses stated above. If for some reason this cannot be done, she is obliged to explain the situation to the other party. The father’s responsibilities include arriving on time to meet the child, providing him with safe transport for travel, and informing the mother about his arrival at the vacation spot.
Mutual responsibilities of the parties: do not discuss personal problems in the relationship in the presence of a minor, act only in the interests of the child, do not create obstacles to communication with either parent, etc.
Contract time. It is usually issued before the child reaches adulthood. Afterwards, he has the right to independently decide with whom he communicates.
Grounds for termination of the agreement: failure to fulfill the obligations of one of the parties, violation of the rights of the child.
Features of challenging a document. This is only permitted in court. If changes are required and the other party agrees to them, an additional agreement to the main one is concluded with the notary.
Date of registration and signature.

Divorce and co-parenting

According to the law, a child has the right to live and be raised in a family and to know his parents (Article 54 Part 2 of the Family Code). Both parents equally decide on the issues of raising and educating their children (Article 63 Part 1 of the Family Code). Only a court can restrict parental rights, i.e. the will of the actual custodial parent is not enough.

The former spouse has the right not only to spend weekends with the child. He has access to direct participation in raising his offspring, including:

obtaining information from educators, teachers and doctors about the progress and current state of health of the child;
making decisions regarding educational institutions, incl. for additional education.

After a divorce, the parent who changed their place of residence retains the right and obligation to provide a decent life for the child. However, it is not easy to independently protect the right to exercise parental supervision over a child, especially in court.

The court’s task is not to protect any party in parental proceedings; its task is to weigh the arguments and facts and then make a decision. Only a family lawyer will provide real support.

If your rights as a parent are violated, contact me. I will help defend your parental interests.

Including additional obligations in the agreement

As mentioned earlier, additional obligations may include paying child support or determining where the child will live with one of the parents.

In the first case, it is important to be guided by the following principles:

The amount of alimony cannot be lower than the amount that would be established by the court. The best option for the average income of the child support recipient is a child support payment in the amount of 1 minimum wage.
It is allowed to establish alimony as a share of the salary: for one person 25% is paid, for two – 33%, for three or more – 50%.
If the wife is on maternity leave or pregnant, she can request alimony for herself.

Expert commentary

Gorchakov Vladimir

Lawyer

If it is necessary to draw up an agreement to establish the place of residence of a minor with one of the parents, it is enough to focus on the wishes of the children. As a rule, they stay with their mothers, but if the father believes that she cannot provide them with a decent life or she does not need them, he has the right to resolve this issue in court.

What to do if you cannot resolve issues peacefully

If the spouse does not agree to enter into an agreement and in every possible way interferes with the exercise of parental rights by the father, he can apply for protection to the district court at the place of residence of the defendant. How it all happens:

A claim is filed demanding to determine the procedure for exercising parental rights. It also indicates the circumstances of the case: the mother does not allow her to see the child, how she explains this, etc.
The application is submitted to the court. Within 5 days, the judge initiates proceedings.
The parties receive written notices indicating the date of the meeting.
The case is considered at meetings. Based on the results, a decision is made that should guide both parties.

The maximum period for consideration of such cases is 2 months. If a spouse files an application for divorce, he can immediately indicate additional requirements: for the collection of alimony, for the establishment of a communication procedure, for the division of property. However, in this case, the claim will be considered not in a settlement, as in a regular divorce, but in a district court.

How to compose it correctly?

To correctly draw up an agreement, you can download its sample, which is provided above. Since it sets out all the main points that need to be included in the text of such a document, you just need to fill it with up-to-date data.

In addition, if you have doubts about your own abilities, you can seek help from a professional lawyer or notary. The specialist will draw up the agreement necessary in each specific case.

If the parties decide to independently develop the text of the document, then they should rely on its standard structure, taking into account the existing nuances. It is important to avoid including conditions that are contrary to the law, errors, clerical errors, or corrections.

At the end of the document, the signature of each of the participants must be placed, as well as the date and place of its signing.

Features of drafting with the inclusion of conditions for the payment of alimony

One of the parents may require the other to pay child support for minor children in several cases:

when living together, if the parent does not voluntarily participate in the financial support of the child;
after a divorce, when the second parent lives separately from the child.

Art. 80 of the IC of Russia defines the responsibility of parents to support and provide for their minor children. If one of them lives separately from the child, he is obliged to pay child support. Such a duty may be imposed as a result of:

drawing up an agreement between the parents determining the amount and procedure for repaying child support;
court decision and commencement of enforcement proceedings.

In the first case, the former spouses have the right to draw up one agreement defining all the nuances of the exercise of parental rights. When including conditions for the repayment of alimony in the general structure, it is necessary to add the following points:

about the amount of alimony payment. It can be a percentage of earnings or a fixed amount;
about the payment period;
on the procedure for collecting debt, if any;
on the amount of the penalty in case of late payment.

All conditions must comply with the requirements of the law and suit both parties. After signing the document, payment of alimony must be carried out in accordance with its terms.

The rights of a father to a child in a civil marriage are legal only if paternity has been established. Do you need to file a claim for restriction of parental rights? In our article you can read useful tips on drafting a document. What is abuse of parental rights and how does it manifest itself? We talked about it here.