A Marital Settlement Agreement is a document describing the terms of a divorce. It is negotiated and written by the divorcing parties or their planners, but becomes a court mandate when accepted by a judge. These agreements can cover a wide variety of topics; including plans for children, disposition of assets, division of debt, and details of spousal support.

Marital Settlement Agreements are not required, but filing one may provide a number of benefits:

• The agreement can greatly reduce uncertainty for both parties.
• The spouses may not have to go to court. If the agreement covers all the material elements of the divorce and is written appropriately, a judge may honor the agreement.
• The agreement may speed legal settlement as it can provide all necessary details and demonstrate that the parties have considered all key aspects of their divorce.
• The document can specify behavioral aspects of the agreement that go beyond simple disposition of assets or responsibility.
• Having created it themselves, the spouses may feel greater investment and satisfaction in the agreement than they would in a legal order.

Generally, a Marital Settlement Agreement is created before the divorce is brought before a court and accepted at the final judgement. It is possible that the agreement could be subject to legal scrutiny prior to being ratified by a judge. This is particularly the case where a spouse is receiving government assistance.

Joint custody offers a number of advantages for parents and children. Sharing responsibility for childcare helps alleviate the burden on each parent and assures that children have continued contact with both parents. Most courts consider this best for children’s well-being and will default to awarding some form of joint custody. In many ways, children with multiple homes has become the “new normal” in modern society.

However, there are a number of disadvantages to joint arrangements. They don’t work well in situations where parents display significant animosity towards one another. Making important decisions about childcare, which is a shared task under joint legal custody, is difficult for parents who get along well. Divorce rarely makes this easier. There is a burden to shuttling children about for joint physical custody arrangements even when parents cooperate well. Of course, animosity exacerbates this as well. Joint physical custody can also be expensive, as it generally involves maintaining two homes for children.

In some cases, one parent is granted sole physical and/or legal custody of children. This is particularly common when a court deems one parent to be unfit for reasons such as mental illness, substance abuse, or a history of violence. In other cases, one parent may waive the right to joint custody.

Outside of these cases, it is becoming less common for courts to award sole custody. The tendency toward granting joint custody serves to protect the best interests of the children affected by divorce. In many cases, sole physical custody may be granted along with joint legal custody. In these cases the noncustodial parent will usually have a generous visitation schedule and be actively involved in making decisions about the child’s upbringing. When parents sharing legal custody have difficulty agreeing on issues of importance to the child, a court may impose an agreement.

A parent with physical custody has the right to have a child live with him or her. Some jurisdictions grant joint physical custody, where children spend significant periods with both parents. This is usually reserved for situations where the parents live close to one another as it is otherwise difficult for children to maintain a regular schedule. More commonly, one parent is granted sole or primary physical custody. The other parent, generally referred to as the noncustodial parent, may have some sort of visitation rights.