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child custody
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

Texas Parenting Plan


Custody X Change can help you create a
parenting plan in Texas.
How to Create Your Parenting Plan in
Texas (TX)

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 Texas.

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.

Texas Parenting Plans

  • In Texas, parents are encouraged to work together and come up with a plan to submit to the court.
  • Usually, the court accepts the plans that are submitted jointly, but if there is something in the plan that the court doesn't think is in the child's best interest, the court will ask the parents to revise the plan.
  • A Texas parenting plan should have detailed information about the legal and physical custody arrangements of the child.
  • The state also requires that plans include information about how modifications will be made in the future.
  • If parents aren't able to agree on a plan, they may be required to attend mediation.
  • If mediation doesn't help, the parents will present their individual plans to the court and the court will decide about the custody arrangements.

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 Texas Parents

  • Create a parenting plan in the child's best interest that the court will accept.
  • Save money in legal fees by doing the work on your parenting plan yourself.
  • Make a detailed custody and visitation schedule by exploring various options until you find a schedule that works for you and your child.
  • Include important provisions about legal custody, modifying the plan for the future, resolving disputes, and anything else that helps the plan.
  • Work together with the other parent to make a plan that everyone supports.
  • Prepare example parenting plans for mediation so you and the other parent can decide what will work for you.
  • Present a plan in court using the documents from the program to explain why the plan is the best one for the child.
  • Pay or receive the right amount of child support by calculating it with an accurate timeshare percentage.
  • Track the custody and visitation schedule so you know if it is being followed.
  • Keep a custody journal about visitation and other matters.
  • Modify the plan at any time and print new copies of the calendar and other reports.
  • Have confidence that your plan fulfills the needs of your child and allows you and the other parent to focus on the children.

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

The top twenty cities in Texas (by population, US Census Bureau, 2008) are: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth, El Paso, Arlington, Corpus Christi, Plano, Laredo, Lubbock, Garland, Irving, Amarillo, Brownsville, Grand Prairie, Pasadena, Mesquite, McAllen, Carrolltown.

Additional state parenting plans you might want to consider:

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

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