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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

North Dakota Custody Agreement

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

How to Create Your Child Custody Agreement in North Dakota (ND)

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.

For Your North Dakota Custody Agreement

North Dakota requires parents to make a custody agreement after they separate or divorce.
Parents may work together on an agreement, and if they can agree the court usually accepts it.
If the mother and father cannot cooperate, the court will hold a hearing and each parent will present a custody agreement for the court to consider.
The judge will determine an agreement that is in the best interest of the child.
These are the factors used to determine the best interest of the child: the love and affection between each parent and the child; the ability of each parent to provide the child with nurture, love, affection, and guidance; the ability of each parent to assure the child adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and a safe environment; and the child's developmental needs.
The court will also consider the following as it affects the best interest of the child: the sufficiency and stability of each parent's home life and the impact of extended family; the willingness of each parent to encourage the relationship between the child and the other parent; the moral fitness of each parent; the mental and physical health of each parent; the effect of change on the child's adjustment to home, school, and community; the child's preference, if the child is old enough; any history of domestic violence; the interactions and interrelationships between the child and anyone who lives with or frequents the parent's residence; and making false allegations, not in good faith, by one parent against the other.
As parents work on their agreements, they should also consider these factors so they can make one that is best for the child.

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.

North Dakota Parents Use Custody X Change To

Make the necessary custody agreement that has all of the requirements for the state.
Collaborate with the other parent to create an agreement that fits the needs of the child and that both parents support.
Prepare example custody agreements for mediation so you can find a solution for your situation.
Present your agreement in court using the documents from the program to show how the agreement is best for the child.
Save money in legal fees by working on your own custody case.
Have greater satisfaction with your custody agreement because you have customized it to benefit your child and work for your situation.
Explore multiple options for the custody and visitation schedule and use the timeshare percentage to understand the time each parent has the children.
Add provisions about the transition for exchanges, making changes to the plan, resolving disputes, rules for raising the child, or anything else that helps.
Track what is actually going on with the parenting time schedule so you know if it is being followed.
Keep a custody journal with notes about visitation and other matters.
Modify the agreement at any time and print out new documents for you and the other parent.
Reduce the stress of your custody situation by feeling good about your 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 North Dakota who have found the easy way to make the best child custody agreement.

The top ten cities in North Dakota (by population, US Census estimate, 2007) are: Fargo, Bismark, Grand Forks, Minot, West Fargo, Mandan, Dickinson, Jamestown, Williston, Wahpeton.

Additional state custody agreement articles you might want to consider:

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

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