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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

Washington Custody Agreement

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

How to Create Your Child Custody Agreement in Washington (WA)

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.

Washington Custody Agreements

The objectives of a Washington state custody agreement are: to provide for the child's physical care, provide for the child's changing needs, maintain emotional stability for the child, encourage parents to work together instead of relying on the courts, and to protect the best interests of the child.
Along with detailed information about physical and legal custody, the agreement must contain a provision that specifies how the parents will resolve future disputes (without going to court).
Parents are encouraged to make and submit a custody agreement together to the court.
If the parents are unable to cooperate, each parent must make a custody agreement that is in the best interest of the child and prepare to present it in court.
The judge will listen to both parents and then make the final decision about what the terms and conditions of the custody agreement are.
The custody agreement accepted can be from either parent, or the judge can make a new one. Once the agreement is accepted, the parents are legally obligated to follow it.

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.

Custody X Change Helps Washington Parents

Make a custody agreement that provides for the child's physical care, provides for the child's changing needs, maintains the emotional stability of the child, helps the parents cooperate in raising the child, and protects the best interest of the child.
View and compare different parenting time schedules so you can customize your schedule to fit the exact needs of the situation.
Add provisions about how to change the agreement, how the parents will cooperate, how the parents will resolve future disputes without the court, and anything else that enhances the agreement.
Collaborate on a joint or shared custody agreement that everyone supports and that is in the child's best interest.
Prepare multiple sample agreements to bring to mediation, show your attorney, or show the other parent for ideas.
Represent yourself in court and use the reports from the software to explain why the agreement is the best one for the child.
Save money in legal fees by doing some or all of the work on your agreement.
Pay or receive the right amount of child support because you use the timeshare percentage to calculate it.
Track the actual parenting time schedule so you know what is going on and if the schedule is being followed.
Journal about visitation, meetings with the other parent, or other custody matters.
Modify the agreement so it meets the changing needs of your child.
Have greater satisfaction with your custody situation because your agreement works for your family.

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 Washington who have found the easy way to make the best child custody agreement.

The top twenty cities in Washington (by population, US Census Bureau, 2008) are: Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, Bellevue, Everett, Spokane Valley, Federal Way, Yakima, Kent, Bellingham, Kennewick, Renton, Lakewood, Auburn, Pasco, Shoreline, Redmond, Kirkland, Richland.

Additional state custody agreement articles you might want to consider:

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

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