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

Maine Parenting Plan

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

How to Create Your Parenting Plan in
Maine (ME)

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 Maine.

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.

Maine Parenting Plans

In Maine, parents who create a shared parenting plan may submit that plan to the court, and the court will most likely accept it. The only reason the court won't accept the shared plan is if the judge finds that that plan isn't in the child's best interest.
If parents are not able to cooperate on a plan, each parent may create a plan to present to the court.
The court considers the following factors when deciding what plan is in the best interest of the child: the age of the child; the relationship of the child to each of the parents and to others who affect the child's welfare; the preference of a child (if the child is old enough); the duration and adequacy of a child's current living arrangements; the stability of the proposed plan; the motivation and capacity of each parent to give love, affection, and guidance to the child; the adjustment of the child to home, school, and community; how willing each parent is to support and encourage access of the child to the other parent; the capacity of the parents to cooperate; methods of assisting parental cooperation and resolving disputes; the effect on the child that a sole custody arrangement would have; any history of domestic abuse; and any other factors that affect the physical and physiological well-being of the child.
As parents create their parenting plans, they should also consider these factors.

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 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 Parents in Maine

Work together to create the right shared parenting plan for your situation.
Reduce tension and stress when working with the other parent to make a shared parenting plan.
Explore options for the custody and visitation schedule until you find the best one for your child.
Add provisions that help the parenting plan fit the needs of the child.
Prepare a plan individually to present in mediation or at court and use the documents from the program to show the plan.
Save money in legal fees.
Pay or receive the right amount of child support based on the timeshare percentage calculation.
Keep track of actual visitation to ensure that the plan is being followed.
Keep a visitation journal that details what happened during visitation.
Modify an existing plan with the tracking and journaling reports.
Print multiple copies of the plan and calendar so everyone always knows what is going on.
Enjoy the time with your children because you aren't worrying about the parenting plan.

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 Maine who have found the way to make the best parenting plan.

The top twelve cities in Maine (by population, US Census Bureau, 2008) are: Portland, Lewiston, Bangor, South Portland, Auburn, Brunswick, Biddeford, Sanford, Augusta, Saco, Westbrook, Waterville.

Additional state parenting plans you might want to consider:

Two related articles (not state-specific) to read: Parenting Plan and Parenting Plan Template.

Navigation: Child Custody » Maine » Maine Parenting Plan