Custody X Change can help you create a perfect
custody agreement in South Carolina.
How to Create Your Child Custody Agreement in South Carolina (SC)
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.
To Make Your South Carolina Custody Agreement
- South Carolina parents can work together on a custody agreement and submit it to the court. These agreements are usually accepted with no questions.
- If the parents are unable to make an agreement, the court will decide what will be in the agreement.
- Each parent will have the opportunity to present an agreement to the judge and explain why that agreement is the best one for the child.
- South Carolina doesn't have any specific requirements about what should be included in the custody agreement so parents should include the necessary information about physical and legal custody and anything else they think is important.
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 Parents in South Carolina
- Create the best possible custody agreement to be accepted as a court order.
- Compare different custody schedules using the timeshare percentage so you get the right schedule for your family.
- Add provisions that make the schedule work better and that give a clear plan for the parents.
- Prepare sample custody agreements to present at mediation, to show your attorney, or to use when working with the other parent.
- Collaborate with the other parent to make an agreement that is best for all involved.
- Represent yourself in court and save on legal fees.
- Pay or receive the right amount of child support by using the timeshare percentage in the calculation.
- Track the actual amount of parenting time so you know if your agreement is being followed.
- Journal about visitation and other custody events.
- Modify the agreement so it meets the changing needs of your child.
- Print multiple copies of the calendar to give to your child and the other parent so everyone is up to date with the schedule.
- Feel confident and satisfied with your custody arrangements.
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 South Carolina who have found the easy way to make the best child custody agreement.
The top fifteen cities in South Carolina (by population, US Census Bureau, 2008) are: Columbia, Charleston, North Charleston, Rock Hill, Mount Pleasant, Greenville, Summerville, Spartanburg, Sumter, Good Creek, Hilton Head Island, Florence, Myrtle Beach, Aiken, Anderson.
Additional state custody agreement articles you might want to consider:
Related article (not state-specific): Custody Agreement.
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