Custody X Change can help you create a perfect
custody agreement in Rhode Island.
How to Create Your Child Custody Agreement in Rhode Island (RI)
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.
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 Making a Rhode Island Custody Agreement
- In Rhode Island, parents can submit a custody agreement to the court.
- It is best if the parents are able to cooperate and submit the agreement together.
- If the parents are unable to agree, each one can submit a proposed agreement to the court.
- The mother and father will have the opportunity to present their agreement and explain why it is in the best interest of the child.
- The judge will then determine what the final agreement will be. The judge can accept either parents' agreement, parts of both agreements, or create an entire new one.
- Once the agreement has been accepted by the court, it becomes a legal document. The parents are required to follow it or they can be held in contempt of court.
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 Helps Rhode Island Parents
- Create a custody agreement that helps the parents continue to provide the best possible care for the child.
- Collaborate with the other parent to make an agreement that focuses on the child and that everyone supports.
- Look at many different options for agreement ideas and parenting time schedules so you can customize your agreement to your situation.
- Prepare ideas to present at mediation or to the other parent.
- Save money in legal fees by doing the work on your agreement yourself instead of hiring an attorney.
- Work with your attorney to make sure you get the agreement you want.
- Represent yourself in court using the documents from the program to explain the benefits of your agreement.
- Add provisions that can make the custody arrangements run more smoothly.
- Track the actual parenting time that each parent has with the child so you can know if the agreement is being followed.
- Keep a journal about custody and visitation matters so you have documentation.
- Print multiple copies of the calendar or sync the calendar to your phone or computer so you always know what is going on.
- Easily make changes to the agreement to accommodate the needs of your child.
- Feel satisfied and happy with your agreement because it is the best one for your 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 Rhode Island who have found the easy way to make the best child custody agreement.
The top thirteen cities in Rhode Island (by population, US Census Bureau, 2008) are: Providence, Warwick, Cranston, Pawtucket, East Providence, Woonsocket, North Providence, West Warwick, Newport, Bristol, Central Falls, Westerly, Barrington.
Additional state custody agreement articles you might want to consider:
Related article (not state-specific): Custody Agreement.
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