Create your ideal parenting plan with Custody X Change.

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Your Software is Great

"I just want to let you know that your software is great and easy to use. My son’s mom and I don’t agree on much, but we do try to make adjustments to accommodate my son’s many activities. It is great to get my son’s baseball schedule in March, look at my Custody Xchange calendar, and know that what nights in April, May, and June we are going to switch. Thanks again."

Frank Ryan
Meriden, CT

The Judge Adopted my Plan

"It can be tailored made to fit your unique schedule with holidays and vacations, plus it breaks the time share down so you can come up with a true shared parenting schedule. It helped me so much and I was pro se against a family law specialist, the judge adopted my plan that I came up with using custody exchange. Thank you so much it was invaluable."

Stacie Staples
Arroyo Grande, CA

I Recommend it to Other Family Law Practitioners

"I have used the Custody X Software in some complicated custody cases and have found it a very useful tool. Many people are very visual and the ability to lay out custody schedules years in advance has been helpful. I have found the software very easy to use and would highly recommend it to other family law practitioners."

Meredith W. Ditchen
Woodstock, GA
www.ditchenlaw.com

Florida Parenting Plan

Custody X Change can help you create a
parenting plan in Florida.

How to Create Your Parenting Plan in
Florida (FL)

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 Florida.

What to Include in a Parenting Plan

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.

Florida Parenting Plans

Florida law requires that parents submit a parenting plan to the courts.
The parenting plan must cover three parenting issues: parental responsibility, time sharing, and support.
All three of these are covered if parents set up a proper custody and visitation schedule, include information about legal custody, and also add in provisions about how the child will be raised.
The parents can also get the proper forms about child support and add information into their plan about how they will handle finances.
Along with this, the parenting plan should have a provision about how the parents will make changes to it in the future.
The Florida court has made some model parenting plans that parents can look up if they need help knowing how to create their plan. Parents don't have to use the exact plan provided--the models are meant as guidelines to help parents make a custom plan that works for the parents and children.
Counties in Florida also have individual rules, so it's important to check with your county courthouse to find out the exact procedure for filing your parenting plan.

How Custody X Change Can Help

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 time sharing 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 Florida Parents

Create the required parenting plan in Florida that includes information about parental responsibility, time sharing, and support.
Make a thorough time sharing schedule that is customized to fit your child's needs.
Include necessary provisions about how the parents will share responsibility, how the parents will handle child support and finances, and how they will make future changes to the plan.
Work together with the other parent to create a plan they both agree on.
Prepare and present a plan in court or at mediation using the documents from the program to explain why the plan is in the best interest of the child.
Save money in legal fees.
Pay or receive the right amount of child support using the correct timeshare percentage calculation from the software.
Track the custody and visitation schedule to know what is really going on.
Journal about visitation and other custody issues.
Modify the plan based on the information from the tracking documents.
Know your parenting plan is effective because it is based on the best interest of the 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 Florida who have found the way to make the best parenting plan.

The top twenty cities in Florida (by population, Census Bureau, 2008) are: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, Port St. Lucie, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Coral Springs, Gainesville, Miano Gardens, Miramar, Clearwater, Pompano Beach, Palm Bay, Spring Hill.

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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