Custody X Change can help you create a
parenting plan in Hawaii.
How to Create Your Parenting Plan in
Hawaii (HI)
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 Hawaii.
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 Hawaii Parenting Plan
- Parents may submit a parenting plan together to the court and the court will accept it, unless the court finds that the plan isn't in the child's best interest.
- If parents are not able to agree on a plan, they can both prepare a parenting plan to submit and show the court. The court then decides what type of plan will be adopted.
- In determining what plan is the best for the child, the court will consider if there has been any domestic abuse in the family; the overall relationship between each parent with the child; the history of care giving or parenting by each parent; each parent's cooperation in developing and implementing a parenting plan; the physical, emotional, safety, and educational needs of the child; the child's relationship with siblings; each parent's actions demonstrating that they allow the child to maintain family connections; each parent's actions showing that they separate the child's needs from the parent's needs; evidence of past or current drug or alcohol abuse; the mental health of each parent; and the areas and levels of conflict with the family.
- Parents should consider these factors as they create their parenting plan.
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.
Hawaii Parents Use Custody X Change To
- Create the best possible parenting plan for your child and get it accepted by the court.
- Work with the other parent or individually to make a custom custody and visitation schedule that works for your situation.
- Include helpful provisions that benefit the custody situation.
- Prepare and present a plan in court or at mediation using the documents from the program.
- Save money in legal fees.
- Easily make changes to the schedule or plan and print out new copies.
- Pay or receive the correct amount of child support based on an accurate timeshare percentage calculation.
- Track how much time each parent actually has the children to know if the schedule is being followed.
- Keep a journal about visitation and custody issues.
- Modify the parenting plan based on the documents from tracking.
- Have peace of mind knowing the parenting plan really helps your children.
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 Hawaii who have found the way to make the best parenting plan.
The top ten cities in Hawaii (by population, US Census Bureau, 2008) are: Honolulu, Hilo, Kailua, Kaneohe, Waipahu, Pearl City, Waimalu, Mililani Town, Kaului, Kihei.
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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