Custody in Vermont.
The starting point the law actually sets, what the judge has to weigh, and the deadlines that catch people out.
See a different stateVermont
The opposite — and this is genuinely unusual, so it is worth being precise. Vermont does not permit an award of shared parental rights and responsibilities over one parent's objection. Section 665(a) provides that the court "may order parental rights and responsibilities to be divided or shared between the parents on such terms and conditions as serve the best interests of the child," but then continues: when the parents cannot agree to divide or share parental rights and responsibilities, "the court shall award parental rights and responsibilities primarily or solely to one parent." That is mandatory language. In practice it means either parent holds an effective veto over a shared order: if one of you will not agree, the judge must give parental rights and responsibilities primarily or solely to one of you. There is no presumption of joint anything in Vermont, and certainly no presumption of equal time. This surprises parents more than any other rule in the state, and it makes negotiating a shared agreement far more valuable in Vermont than in most places — because if you cannot reach one, shared is off the table entirely.
Use the state’s own words
Vermont does not say "custody" at all. The Judiciary's own page says so directly: "Parental rights and responsibilities are sometimes called child custody" and "Parent-child contact is sometimes called parent-time or visitation." The two halves are "legal responsibility" and "physical responsibility." Using "custody" and "visitation" in a Vermont filing marks you immediately — write "parental rights and responsibilities" (often abbreviated PR&R) and "parent-child contact."
How Vermont decides
Decisions against where the child lives
15 V.S.A. § 664 defines the terms. "Parental rights and responsibilities" are "the rights and responsibilities related to a child's physical living arrangements, education, medical and dental care, religion, travel, and any other matter involving a child's welfare and upbringing." "Legal responsibility" means "the rights and responsibilities to determine and control various matters affecting a child's welfare and upbringing, other than routine daily care and control of the child." "Physical responsibility" means "the rights and responsibilities to provide routine daily care and control of the child subject to the right of the other parent to have contact with the child." "Parent-child contact" means "the right of a parent who does not have physical responsibility to have visitation with the child." The Vermont Judiciary adds a useful practical gloss: legal responsibility can be divided issue by issue — "you might share legal responsibility for most matters, but one of you may have sole legal responsibility for medical care" — though "In most cases parents share all legal responsibilities, or they are all assigned to one parent only." Physical responsibility includes where the child lives.
What the judge must weigh
Section 665(b) opens: "In making an order under this section, the court shall be guided by the best interests of the child and shall consider at least the following factors:" (1) "the relationship of the child with each parent and the ability and disposition of each parent to provide the child with love, affection, and guidance"; (2) "the ability and disposition of each parent to assure that the child receives adequate food, clothing, medical care, other material needs, and a safe environment"; (3) "the ability and disposition of each parent to meet the child's present and future developmental needs"; (4) "the quality of the child's adjustment to the child's present housing, school, and community and the potential effect of any change"; (5) "the ability and disposition of each parent to foster a positive relationship and frequent and continuing contact with the other parent, including physical contact, except where contact will result in harm to the child or to a parent"; (6) "the quality of the child's relationship with the primary care provider, if appropriate given the child's age and development"; (7) "the relationship of the child with any other person who may significantly affect the child"; (8) "the ability and disposition of the parents to communicate, cooperate with each other, and make joint decisions concerning the children where parental rights and responsibilities are to be shared or divided"; and (9) "evidence of abuse, as defined in section 1101 of this title, and the impact of the abuse on the child and on the relationship between the child and the abusing parent." Factor (6) — the child's relationship with the primary care provider — is one Vermont takes seriously and many states do not list at all. Section 665(c) adds: "The court shall not apply a preference for one parent over the other because of the sex of the child, the sex of a parent, or the financial resources of a parent."
What the child wants
Vermont's factor list does not include the child's preference as a separate numbered factor, and § 665(b) sets no age. The closest provisions are factor (6), "the quality of the child's relationship with the primary care provider, if appropriate given the child's age and development," and factor (7), the child's relationship with any other person who may significantly affect the child. Because the list is a floor — the court "shall consider at least the following factors" — a judge can consider a mature child's views, but Vermont gives no child a right to choose and sets no magic age.
Where there has been violence or abuse
Abuse is factor (9) of § 665(b): "evidence of abuse, as defined in section 1101 of this title, and the impact of the abuse on the child and on the relationship between the child and the abusing parent." Note that Vermont asks not just whether abuse happened but what it did to the child and to the child-parent relationship, so evidence about effects matters as much as evidence about incidents. Vermont's structure also gives a survivor real protection through § 665(a) itself: because the court cannot order shared parental rights and responsibilities over your objection, a parent who does not want to share decision-making with an abusive ex-partner cannot be forced into it.
The paperwork and the people
The parenting plan
Vermont strongly encourages a parenting plan but we could not confirm a statutory filing mandate. The Judiciary states: "The court encourages parents to agree on a parenting plan. Your plan should address both legal responsibility and physical responsibility. You can share both, assign both to one parent, or agree to different things for each kind of responsibility.… The more you agree to, the better." Given § 665(a), that encouragement carries unusual weight in Vermont: an agreement is the only route to a shared order. Forms are published at the bottom of the Judiciary's parental rights and responsibilities page, and the Access and Resource Center will help you find them (802-879-1185, selfhelp@vtcourts.gov). https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/family/parental-rights-and-responsibilities-and-parent-child-contact
Mediation
No — Vermont mediation is judge-prompted rather than automatic, and the court helps pay for it. The Judiciary explains: "Some cases are best resolved by the people (called 'parties') themselves instead of by a judge. That's why the judge in your case might ask you to take part in mediation." The Family Mediation Program covers separation, divorce, post-divorce, "Parentage, including parental rights and responsibilities," financial and property settlements, child support, spousal maintenance, and modifications. On cost: "The court will help pay the cost of a mediator in appropriate family and probate cases" and "If you earn up to $50,000 per year, the court will pay part of the mediator's hourly fee. You will pay the other part. Your share of the fee depends on your household income." We could not confirm a domestic violence exemption; raise safety concerns with the judge before mediation is scheduled. https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/family/family-mediation-program
Moving away
What you must do before you move
We could not confirm a notice period or a distance trigger for this state. That does not mean there is no rule — in several states it comes from court decisions rather than a statute. Get advice before you move, not after.
Later on
Changing the order
15 V.S.A. § 668. The general standard is a "real, substantial, and unanticipated change of circumstances," plus a finding that the modification is in the child's best interests. All three words in that phrase do work — a change that was foreseeable when the order was made will not qualify, however real it is. Vermont also has two special categories. An order issued under § 665(f)(1) "shall not be subject to modification" at all. An order issued under § 665(f)(2) requires an "extraordinary, real, substantial, and unanticipated change of circumstances" — a higher bar than the ordinary standard. Check which subsection your order was issued under before you assume the ordinary test applies. There is no statutory waiting period that we could confirm. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/15/011/00668
If you were never married
Vermont handles this through a "parentage" case rather than a divorce. The Judiciary states that "Parental rights and responsibilities, parent-child contact, and child support orders can be established as part of a divorce or legal separation, parentage, or civil union dissolution case" — so if you were never married, the parentage case is your route, and the same § 665 analysis applies once you are in it. Notably, the Family Mediation Program expressly covers "Parentage, including parental rights and responsibilities." We could not confirm the specific requirements for establishing parentage; the Access and Resource Center (802-879-1185, selfhelp@vtcourts.gov) can point you to the right forms.
Vermont's defining rule is one almost no one expects: the court cannot order you to share parental rights and responsibilities if you object. Section 665(a) requires the judge to award them "primarily or solely to one parent" when parents cannot agree. That has a hard consequence and a hopeful one. The hard one is that a contested Vermont case is close to winner-take-all on decision-making, which raises the stakes of going to trial enormously. The hopeful one is that a negotiated agreement unlocks an outcome the judge simply cannot give you — so if you want to share, invest in reaching agreement, and use the Family Mediation Program, which the court will help pay for if you earn up to $50,000. Also, retrain your vocabulary before you file: no "custody," no "visitation."
What we could not confirm
- We could not confirm Vermont's rules on moving away with a child — Vermont appears not to have a relocation notice statute with a distance trigger or a fixed notice period, and the law comes largely from court decisions. Do not move before getting advice. We also could not confirm the authority for a court-appointed evaluator or guardian ad litem in a Vermont parental rights case or who pays for one, whether a written parenting plan must be filed, whether mediation carries a domestic violence exemption, or the specific steps for establishing parentage when parents were never married. The Vermont Judiciary's Access and Resource Center (802-879-1185, selfhelp@vtcourts.gov) answers exactly these questions and is free.
- 1 official page we tried to read refused automated access. We did not try to get around that, so some detail above was read from a different official source — a published court opinion quoting the statute, or the court’s own forms and instructions.
Compare all fifty states
Where 50/50 really is the default, and the twenty-six states where nothing is presumed.
And the money side
How Vermont calculates child support, and the overnight number that changes it.