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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

Illinois Custody Agreement

Custody X Change can help you create a perfect
custody agreement in Illinois.

How to Create Your Child Custody Agreement in Illinois (IL)

Creating your child custody agreement is the most important thing you'll do in your custody situation. The custody agreement contains the information about how parents will divide parental responsibility, share time with the children, and continue to care and provide for the children. The custody agreement turns into the custody order, making it a legal document that the parents must follow. Therefore, it is crucial that parents take the time and effort to make the best custody agreement possible.

Creating a Child Custody Agreement

The first step in making your child custody agreement is to understand the definitions of physical custody and legal custody.

Physical custody means the time the child is with the parent and in the parent's care.
Physical custody can be given to one parent--a sole physical custody agreement--with visitation to the other parent, or parents may have a joint physical custody agreement where they both spend significant time caring for the children (although, in a joint custody agreement, the time doesn't have to be exactly equal).
Legal custody refers to the rights and responsibilities the parents have over making decisions for the child. This includes decisions about education, medical and dental care, religion, child care, driving privileges, extra-curricular activities, etc.
A mother or father may have sole legal custody over the children, or they may share joint legal custody. Parents can have joint legal custody without sharing joint physical custody.

Basically, your custody agreement contains information about how you and the other parent will share and divide legal and physical custody and a plan for how you will make those arrangements work.

For physical custody, the parents should include a complete custody and visitation schedule, a holiday schedule, and include any days or events where the custody situation changes.
For legal custody, the agreement should contain the process for how decisions will be made and how the decision making responsibility will be shared.
Parents can also include more provisions in their agreement that provide rules that help the parents work out custody issues. For example, many agreements have provisions that outline how transportation for visits will be handled.
Anything else that will help the custody arrangements go more smoothly and help the parents cooperate should also be put in the agreement.

Information for Your Illinois Custody Agreement

Illinois parents can work together to create a joint custody agreement.
This agreement should include detailed information about legal custody including how the parents will make major decisions and what each parent's powers and responsibilities are.
The agreement must also contain a provision that explains how changes will be made in the future and how disputes will be handled.
If parents are not able to cooperate on an agreement, each parent can create an agreement to present to the court.
The judge will listen to the mother and father and then determine the contents of the agreement.

How Custody X Change can Help

Custody X Change is child custody software that lets parents create custody agreements that have all of the information about physical and legal custody. The program helps you make an agreement that the court will accept and make into a custody order. With the software you can:

Make a complete custody and visitation schedule with a repeating cycle of custody, a holiday schedule, vacation time, and special events.
Include information about how legal custody will be divided and shared between the parents.
View the exact timeshare percentage that each parent has with the children so you can create the best schedule for your situation.
Add important provisions and stipulations to help the custody arrangements work better.
Print professional reports that contain your agreement, including a written and calendar form of the custody schedule, a list of the included provisions, and a detailed timeshare percentage document.
Track what is going on with your custody situation by marking the actual time that each parent has the children, keeping a visitation journal, and printing a report that shows the difference between actual and scheduled time with the children.
Export all of the reports to Word, PDF, and Excel.
Sync your custody and visitation schedule to your Blackberry, iPhone, Palm/PDA, Outlook, Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar, Windows Live, etc.

Custody X Change Allows Illinois Parents To

Create the best possible custody agreement for your child and you.
Easily look at different options for the custody and visitation schedule so you can find the right schedule for your situation.
Make changes and adjustments to the schedule as needed and as you learn more about what works for your child.
Include the required provisions about making changes to the agreement and how the parents will resolve disputes, along with other customized provisions.
Base the child support payments on the correct timeshare percentage so you pay or receive the right amount.
Ease conflict when working with the other parent so you can make a joint custody agreement that both parents support.
Prepare for mediation by making multiple example agreements to facilitate the discussion.
Represent yourself in court and use the documents from the program to explain the benefits of your agreement.
Save money in legal fees by assisting your attorney in making your agreement or making your agreement on your own.
Once the agreement is in place, track the actual amount of time each parent has with the children so you know if the schedule is being followed.
Modify the agreement at any time to fit the needs of your child and easily print out new copies of the schedule and agreement.
Keep a visitation journal where you write about important events.
Focus your attention on your child instead of worrying about the agreement.

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 Illinois who have found the easy way to make the best child custody agreement.

The top twenty cities in Illinois (by population, US Census Bureau, 2008) are: Chicago, Aurora, Rockford, Joliet, Naperville, Springfield, Peoria, Elgin, Waukegan (Lake County), Cicero, Champaign, Evanston, Decatur, Arlington Heights, Bloomington, Schaumburg, Bolingbrook, Palatine, Skokie, Tinley Park.

Additional state custody agreement articles you might want to consider:

Related article (not state-specific): Custody Agreement.

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