There are many people today who have children with people they are not married to. When this happens, and both parents want rights to the children, there can be legal confusion and problems for the parents. If you have a child with someone you are not married to or even dating, you may want to talk to a family lawyer about drawing up a parenting agreement that you can both sign and abide by. Here are several things to understand about parenting agreements.

What Is a Parenting Agreement?

A parenting agreement is a legal document you can create to outline the duties, responsibilities, and roles of each parent of a child of unwed parents. These agreements are becoming more popular today, as there are more unwed parents of children. A parenting agreement is similar to the type of agreement you would create if you were getting divorced and had children with your spouse, and it is designed to help each parent know their roles relating to the children.

What Should It Contain?

When you create a parenting agreement, you will need to agree on the issues the agreement contains. This will include your child custody arrangement. For example, will one of you have the kids most of the time while the other gets to see them on certain days? If so, you must write this in the agreement. If you will share custody, on the other hand, include this in the agreement. Additionally, you may want to state who will pay child support, how much it will be, and when it is due. You could also include details of the responsibilities of health insurance for the kids and any other important details relating to the kids.

Why Do You Need This?

If you are wondering why people get these agreements, it is for a specific purpose. The purpose is to make sure both parents are on the same page when it comes to the children. It is also designed to eliminate problems with the parents and misunderstandings. Because it is a legal agreement, both parents will have to abide by what it says if they want to avoid consequences through the legal system.

If you are interested in learning more about parenting agreements, you should talk to a family law attorney today. A family law attorney will be familiar with these agreements and will be able to help you and the other parent involved create an agreement you can both agree to.