IN PLAIN ENGLISH
How custody works in Vermont
In Vermont, custody is called "parental rights and responsibilities," and it has two parts: legal responsibility (big decisions like school, medical care, religion and travel) and physical responsibility (day-to-day care and where your child lives). [VT-P1, VT-P3] Visitation is called "parent-child contact." [VT-P1, VT-P3]
The court encourages parents to agree on a parenting plan, and an agreement between parents is presumed to be in the child's best interests, though the judge must still approve it. [VT-P3, VT-P5] If parents cannot agree to share, the law says the judge must give parental rights and responsibilities mainly or only to one parent. [VT-P2, VT-P3] That does not cut the other parent out: Vermont's stated policy is that children should have as much continuing contact with both parents as possible, unless that contact is likely to cause physical harm or serious emotional harm to the child or a parent. [VT-P4]
Vermont has no standard statewide schedule. [VT-P6] The state's agreement form gives you a blank two-week calendar and spaces for holidays, vacations and summer that you fill in for your family. [VT-P6] Free help with forms is available from the Judiciary's Access and Resource Center, and free legal information is on VTLawHelp.org. [VT-P3, VT-P8]
Words you’ll see in your papers
- Parental rights and responsibilities
- Vermont's legal term for custody. It covers where your child lives and who makes decisions about education, health care, religion and travel. [VT-P1, VT-P3]
- Legal responsibility
- The right to make major decisions about your child, such as school, non-emergency medical care, religion and travel. It can be shared, divided or held by one parent. [VT-P1, VT-P3]
- Physical responsibility
- Day-to-day care of your child, including where your child lives. It can also be shared or held by one parent. [VT-P1, VT-P3]
COMMON QUESTIONS
What parents in Vermont ask first
Does Vermont start from 50/50?
No. [VT-P2] Vermont has no presumption of equal time. [VT-P2, VT-P6] If both parents agree to share, the judge can approve that; but if parents do not agree to share, the judge cannot order them to share and must give parental rights and responsibilities mainly or only to one parent. [VT-P2, VT-P3] The other parent still usually gets parent-child contact, because the law favors as much contact with both parents as is safe. [VT-P3, VT-P4]
What does the judge look at?
Your child's best interests. [VT-P2] The law lists your child's relationship with each parent and each parent's ability to give love, guidance, food, clothing, medical care and a safe home; each parent's ability to meet your child's needs now and later; how settled your child is in their home, school and community; each parent's willingness to support your child's relationship with the other parent; your child's relationship with the main caregiver; other important people in your child's life; whether the parents can communicate and decide things together; and any abuse and its effect on the child. [VT-P2] The judge cannot favor a parent because of the parent's or child's sex or because one parent has more money. [VT-P2] The court's self-help page notes the main-caregiver relationship is often the most important factor, depending on the child's age. [VT-P3]
Is there a standard schedule?
No. [VT-P6] Vermont law does not set a default calendar. [VT-P2, VT-P6] Parents fill in their own schedule on the court's Agreement on Parental Rights and Responsibilities form (form 400-00825), which covers living arrangements, holidays, vacations, travel and how you will communicate. [VT-P5, VT-P6] If you cannot agree, the judge sets the schedule based on your child's best interests. [VT-P2, VT-P3]
Does my child get to choose?
No. [VT-P2] Vermont's list of best-interest factors does not include a child's preference and does not set any age when a child can decide. [VT-P2] In most cases the judge does not take testimony from the child. [VT-P9] Ask the court or a legal aid office how your child's views can be shared in your case. [VT-P3, VT-P8]
Can I move with my child?
Vermont law does not set a specific notice period for moving. [VT-P2, VT-P10] The court's guidance is that if either parent is thinking about moving, you may need to revisit your parenting plan, and the court may order you to work out the issues, sometimes through mediation, before the child moves. [VT-P3] Check your own order, which may have its own travel or moving terms. [VT-P5, VT-P6]
Can the order be changed later?
Yes, but you have to show a big change. [VT-P10] A parent must show a "real, substantial, and unanticipated change of circumstances" since the order, and that the change would be in your child's best interests. [VT-P10] Some orders require mediation before you ask the court to change them. [VT-P3] The filing fee is $120, or $35 if both parents agree, and you can ask the court to waive fees you cannot afford. [VT-P3]
We were never married. What happens first?
If there is no court order about parentage, only the mother has legal and physical responsibility for the child. [VT-P8] Parentage can be established by both parents signing a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage, which must be filed with the Department of Health, or by a court order. [VT-P7] Once parentage is established, either parent can ask the court for orders on custody, parent-child contact and support by filing a parentage case. [VT-P7, VT-P8]
What if I am not safe?
Judges must consider any abuse and how it affects your child. [VT-P2] A Relief from Abuse order can include a temporary award of parental rights and responsibilities and conditions on parent-child contact to protect you and your child. [VT-P11] The court can also order supervised contact when a parent's behavior puts the child at risk. [VT-P3] Vermont law also allows a judge to deny all contact in certain cases where a child was conceived through sexual assault. [VT-P2]
Free, official places to start
- Vermont Judiciary: Parental Rights and Responsibilities and Parent-Child Contact
The courts' plain-language guide to custody, the factors judges use, and the forms to ask for, change or enforce an order.
- VTLawHelp: Child Custody and Visitation
Free legal information from Vermont's legal aid organizations, including what happens when there is no court order.
- Agreement on Parental Rights and Responsibilities (form 400-00825)
The statewide parenting plan form, with a blank two-week schedule and sections for holidays, vacations, travel and communication.
- Vermont Judiciary: Parentage
How never-married parents establish legal parentage and ask the court for custody and contact orders.
LOCAL SPOTLIGHT · BURLINGTON
Chittenden County
Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Unit, Family Division
Chittenden County uses the same statewide law and forms as the rest of Vermont; its family court does not publish its own parenting schedule. [VT-P6, VT-P12] The Family Division is at 32 Cherry Street in Burlington, and the Judiciary's free Access and Resource Center, which helps people without a lawyer with court forms and processes (but not legal advice), offers in-person appointments at the Costello Courthouse on the same street. [VT-P12, VT-P13] If parents cannot agree, a judge may send them to the state's Family Mediation Program, which pays part of the mediator's fee for people earning up to $50,000 a year, or, in high-conflict cases, to a parent coordinator who meets with each parent separately to help work out a detailed parenting plan. [VT-P14, VT-P15]
- Chittenden Family Division (court location page)
Address, phone, email and hours for the family court that hears Chittenden County custody cases.
- Access and Resource Center
Free help by phone, email or in-person appointment in Burlington with family court forms and processes for people without a lawyer.
- Family Mediation Program
How court-subsidized mediation works and how to find a family mediator who serves Chittenden County.
- Parent Coordination
Explains the court-referred process for high-conflict parents to work out exchanges, safety and communication issues.
Other counties in Vermont can have different local rules and forms. Check the court where your case is filed.
THE DETAILED GUIDE · WHAT KIND OF SCHEDULE THE LAW PROVIDES
No fixed statewide schedule identified
Research overview
No fixed statewide parent-child-contact calendar identified in the reviewed sources. A statewide agreement form offers blanks and alternatives for schedule design, not an assigned rotation. [VT1][VT2]
Legal force and applicability
Case-specific calendar; no fixed statewide calendar identified in reviewed sources. Any custody/allocation presumption is separate.
Authority and geographic scope
Statewide law; case-specific court order controls
Custody and parenting-time presumptions
Policy supports maximum continuing contact unless physical/emotional harm may result. Under§ 665(a), if parents cannot agree to divide/share parental rights and responsibilities, court must award them primarily or solely to one parent. This does not eliminate the other parent’s contact and is not a 50/50 presumption. [VT1][VT4]
Schedule & conditions
Read these topics together with your actual order. A model, form, or presumption does not automatically supply an enforceable calendar.
Regular school-year schedule
Form 400-00825 has blank two-week grid, longer-cycle attachment or narrative option. Court reviews best interests; no automatic days or overnight split. [VT1][VT2]
Holidays and school breaks
Form offers ordinary schedule, agreed holiday time or checked individualized holidays with times/parity. Printed Thanksgiving arrangement is an example only. [VT2]
Summer and vacation time
Vacation/summer plan is customizable, with dates and allocation to be specified; no statewide fixed number of weeks identified in the reviewed sources. [VT2]
Age and development
Age/development, relationship with primary caregiver and current/future needs are factors. No fixed statewide age-tier schedule identified in the reviewed sources. [VT1]
Safety & exceptions
Abuse, risk and welfare govern; court may order supervised contact. Section 665 contains sexual-assault/exploitation/trafficking provisions permitting sole responsibility and denial of contact on specified findings. [VT1][VT3] Separately, Act 165§40h amended relief-from-abuse §1103(c)(1)(B), effective June 18 2026, replacing incarceration with Department of Corrections supervision in the specified-conviction branch; the court must first find abuse. This protective-relief change does not prescribe a parenting rotation. [VT6]