How can I file for child custody in North Carolina?

Filing for child custody in NC requires you to submit a petition to the family court in the location where you and/or the child or other parent lives. Often, child custody cases arise at the same time as divorce cases. However, this is not always the case as it is possible to file a petition for child custody even if you have never been married to the other parent, if you wish to have a formal and legally binding custody arrangement put into place.

In order to be granted child custody, you will need to convince the court that it is in the best interests of the child to live with you. The court may determine that one of three custody arrangements is appropriate in a given situation:

• Sole custody, in which the child lives only with one parent (supervised or limited visitation may be given to the other parent)
• Primary custody, in which the child spends much of his or her time living with one parent but sees the other on a set basis (such as every weekend or once a month or at summer vacations)
• Joint custody, in which the child splits his time with each of his parents. 

The court generally opts for either primary or joint custody, as it is usually considered to be in the best interests of any child to have both parents in his life. However, if you can convince the court that it is a danger to have the child in the custody of the other parent at any point in time, the court may grant you sole custody. 

To get help filing a petition for custody, you should strongly consider working with a lawyer who specializes in family law and custody issues. Your lawyer can help you to deal with the legal technicalities of filing a petition and can help to convince the court to grant custody to you.