Custody X Change can help you create a
parenting plan in Colorado.
How to Create Your Parenting Plan in Colorado (CO)
Your parenting plan is the most important document in your child custody situation. The parenting plan outlines all of the information about how you and the child's other parent will continue to care for the child after a divorce or separation. It is vital that parents take the time to create a detailed, well-thought out plan that centers around the best interests of their children. Here are some things to consider for parents making a parenting plan in Colorado.
Your parenting plan should include information about how parents will divide parental responsibility and share time with the children.
- Legal custody refers to the parent's rights to make decisions for and about their child. This includes decisions about education, child care, religion, medical and dental care, etc. When the children are older it includes decisions about driving, working part time, extra-curricular activities, school functions, etc.
- In sole legal custody, one parent has the right to make decisions about the child.
- In joint legal custody the parents share this responsibility. The parents can divide the decisions between them or they can consult each other about all of the issues.
- Physical custody refers to how the parents share the time with the children. Parents need to figure out where their children will live during the week, on weekends, during holidays, vacation time, etc.
- In sole physical custody, the child lives with one parent and has visitation with the other parent.
- In a joint physical custody arrangement, the child spends substantial time living with both parents. The time doesn't have to be exactly split in half in joint physical custody.
So, Your Parenting Plan Needs to Have
- The type of legal and physical custody the parents have chosen (parents may have joint legal custody without joint physical custody),
- A custody and visitation schedule that shows when the child is with each parent,
- A holiday and vacation schedule,
- How the parents will make decisions for the child,
- Provisions that the parents want to include about parenting, and
- Any other information the parents want to include concerning the child custody arrangements.
For Your Colorado Parenting Plan
- Parents may work together to submit a parenting plan to the court. The court will generally approve those plans and make them into the custody order.
- If parents are not able to collaborate, the mother and father both present their sides of the custody case to the court and the court makes the final decisions about physical and legal custody.
- When the court makes custody decisions, it considers the wishes of the parents and children; the child's relationship to both parents, siblings, and other family members; the child's adjustment to home, school, and community; the mental and physical health of everyone involved; the ability of the parents to care for the children; the past involvement of the parents with the children; the physical distance between the parent's homes and places where the child frequents; and any other issue they think affects the best interest of the child.
- When parents are creating their parenting plans they should also consider those factors.
Custody X Change is custody software that helps parents create a parenting plan. The software makes it easy to put in all of the necessary information so that your plan can be accepted by the court. With the software, you can:
- Create your custody and visitation schedule by making a repeating cycle of custody, a holiday schedule, and adding in any vacation time and special events.
- See the exact timeshare percentage that each parent has with the children when you set up your schedule.
- Include information about how legal custody will be divided.
- Add extra parenting provisions and stipulations into your plan.
- Print professional documents of the entire parenting plan, including a written form of the custody and visitation schedule, a calendar of the custody and visitation schedule, the detailed time-share and overnight percentage report, and the list of provisions the parents have included.
- Track actual visitation, keep a journal about visitation, and print a report that shows the difference between scheduled and actual visitation time.
- Export all of the documents to Word, PDF, and Excel.
- Sync the custody calendar to your Blackberry, iPhone, Palm/PDA, Outlook, Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar, Windows Live, etc.
Custody X Change Helps Colorado Parents To
- Work together or individually to make a parenting plan that is in the best interest of the child.
- Explore options for the custody and visitation schedule until you find the right one for your child.
- Include parenting provisions that make the plan run more smoothly.
- Save money in legal fees by doing a lot of the work you pay your attorney to do.
- Prepare a plan to present at mediation or at a meeting with the other parent. Easily make changes to the plan to come up with a plan both parents agree to.
- Present a plan in court and use the documents from the software to explain why the plan is in the best interest of the child.
- Make changes to the schedule as necessary and print out copies of a new calendar.
- Pay or receive the correct amount of child support based on the visitation timeshare calculation.
- Track the actual amount of time that each parent has with the children to ensure the schedule is being followed,
- Keep notes about visitation and other events concerning the child.
- Modify a plan using the tracking and journal documentation.
- Feel confident that your plan is working for your child.
You can get a free thirty day trial of Custody X Change by entering your name and email at the top of the page. Join the others in Colorado who have found the way to make the best parenting plan.
The top twenty cities in Colorado (by population, US Census Bureau, 2008) are: Denver, Colorado Springs, Aurora, Lakewood, Fort Collins, Thornton, Arvada, Westminster, Pueblo, Centennial, Highlands Ranch, Boulder, Greeley, Longmont, Loveland, Broomfield, Grand Junction, Castle Rock, Parker, Commerce City.
Additional state parenting plans you might want to consider:
Two related articles (not state-specific) to read: Parenting Plan and Parenting Plan Template.
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