1. Information about physical and legal custody. Chapter 14 defines physical and legal custody and mandates that parents divide the responsibilities. Physical custody refers to the physical residence of the child and legal custody refers to the parents’ authority to make decisions concerning the child. Parents can create a thorough custody and visitation schedule to show the division of physical custody, and they should create stipulations and provisions that explicitly state how they share legal custody.

2. The plan must be in the child’s best interest. The state of New York will not accept any parenting plan or custody agreement that is not in the best welfare of the child. The court must base every custody decision on what is best for the child. The factors that the judge will consider when determining what is best for the child are: which parent was the primary caretaker of the children, the employment of both parents, the current relationship of the children to the parents, the ability of the parents to care for the children, if a parent allows the other parent to visit the children, etc. Parents must incorporate and plan for these factors as they make their plan.