Custody in North Carolina.
The starting point the law actually sets, what the judge has to weigh, and the deadlines that catch people out.
See a different stateNorth Carolina
None of any kind. N.C. Gen. Stat. sec. 50-13.2(a): 'Between the parents, whether natural or adoptive, no presumption shall apply as to who will better promote the interest and welfare of the child. Joint custody to the parents shall be considered upon the request of either parent.' Read that second sentence carefully – the court must CONSIDER joint custody when a parent asks for it. It is not required to order it, and 'joint custody' in North Carolina does not mean equal time. Sec. 50-13.01(4) encourages both parents to 'share equitably in the rights and responsibilities of raising their child,' which is a statement of policy, not a presumption or a scheduling rule.
Use the state’s own words
North Carolina keeps the traditional words – 'custody,' 'joint custody,' 'visitation.' N.C. Gen. Stat. sec. 50-13.1(a) says that 'unless a contrary intent is clear, the word "custody" shall be deemed to include custody or visitation or both.' The court can grant joint custody to the parents, exclusive custody to one person, or custody to two or more persons (sec. 50-13.2(b)). An agreement reached in the state mediation program is often called a 'parenting agreement,' but sec. 50-13.1(h) makes clear it is legally a custody order.
How North Carolina decides
Decisions against where the child lives
North Carolina does not define 'legal custody' or 'physical custody' anywhere in Chapter 50. The statute simply directs the court to award custody 'to such person, agency, organization or institution as will best promote the interest and welfare of the child' and to include 'such terms, including visitation, as will best promote the interest and welfare of the child' (sec. 50-13.2(a)-(b)). In practice North Carolina orders divide decision-making and physical placement the same way other states do, but the labels and their content come from the individual order, not from a statute. One default does exist: sec. 50-13.2(b) – 'Absent an order of the court to the contrary, each parent shall have equal access to the records of the minor child involving the health, education, and welfare of the child.'
What the judge must weigh
- North Carolina has NO statutory checklist of best-interest factors. Sec. 50-13.2(a) sets the standard and names only three mandatory considerations: 'In making the determination, the court shall consider all relevant factors including acts of domestic violence between the parties, the safety of the child, and the safety of either party from domestic violence by the other party.'
- Sec. 50-13.2(a) also requires that 'An order for custody must include written findings of fact that reflect the consideration of each of these factors and that support the determination of what is in the best interest of the child.' Everything else that matters – stability, the parents' respective caretaking history, the child's adjustment, each parent's fitness – is argued under 'all relevant factors' and shaped by North Carolina appellate case law rather than by statute.
- Sec. 50-13.01 states the policy the court works from: encourage focused, good faith, child-centered parenting agreements to reduce needless litigation; set the expectation that parenthood is a significant and ongoing responsibility; encourage programs and court practices reflecting the active and ongoing participation of both parents and contact with both parents when in the child's best interest, subject to the abuse, neglect and dependency laws; encourage both parents to share equitably in the rights and responsibilities of raising their child, even after dissolution of a marriage or an unwed relationship; and encourage each parent to establish and maintain a healthy relationship with the other parent when that is in the child's best interest, taking into account mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, or any other factor the court deems appropriate.
What the child wants
There is no statute. North Carolina's custody statutes do not mention the child's wishes at all – no age, no factor, no procedure for interviewing a child. A judge may consider what a child wants under the general 'all relevant factors' language of sec. 50-13.2(a), and how much weight it carries is left to the trial judge's discretion under case law. If you have been told there is an age at which a North Carolina child chooses, that is not the law.
Where there has been violence or abuse
North Carolina has no custody presumption for domestic violence, but it has three mandatory rules. First, sec. 50-13.2(a) makes 'acts of domestic violence between the parties, the safety of the child, and the safety of either party from domestic violence by the other party' considerations the court must weigh, and requires written findings of fact reflecting consideration of each. Second, sec. 50-13.2(b): 'If the court finds that domestic violence has occurred, the court shall enter such orders that best protect the children and party who were the victims of domestic violence, in accordance with the provisions of G.S. 50B-3(a1)(1), (2), and (3).' Third, and importantly for anyone who has left: 'If a party is absent or relocates with or without the children because of an act of domestic violence, the absence or relocation shall not be a factor that weighs against the party in determining custody or visitation.' Domestic violence between the parents is also express good cause to waive mediation (sec. 50-13.1(c)). Sec. 50-13.2(b2) lets the court condition custody or visitation on abstaining from alcohol, verified by continuous alcohol monitoring, with violations reportable to the court and grounds for contempt.
The paperwork and the people
The parenting plan
No. North Carolina does not require a written parenting plan and does not have a statutory parenting plan form. If you reach agreement in the court's custody mediation program, sec. 50-13.1(g) requires the agreement to be reduced to writing, signed by each party, and submitted to the court as soon as practicable; unless the court finds good reason not to, it must incorporate the agreement into a court order, and it becomes enforceable as one. Sec. 50-13.1(h): if that document is called a 'parenting agreement' or something similar, 'it shall nevertheless be deemed to be a custody order or child custody determination' for purposes of the UCCJEA and the related statutes.
Mediation
Yes – North Carolina has a statewide mandatory custody mediation program, and it is one of the oldest in the country. N.C. Gen. Stat. sec. 50-13.1(b): where a program has been established under G.S. 7A-494, a contested custody or visitation matter 'shall be set for mediation of the unresolved issues as to custody and visitation before or concurrent with the setting of the matter for hearing unless the court waives mediation.' Issues raised in modification motions are also set for mediation. Alimony, child support and other economic issues may not be referred. Sec. 50-13.1(c) lists good cause to waive: undue hardship to a party; an agreement for voluntary mediation subject to court approval; 'allegations of abuse or neglect of the minor child; allegations of alcoholism, drug abuse, or domestic violence between the parents in common; or allegations of severe psychological, psychiatric, or emotional problems.' Living more than fifty miles from the court may also be considered good cause. Mediation is private and confidential, and neither the mediator nor a participant is competent to testify about it (sec. 50-13.1(e)-(f)). G.S. 7A-494 requires the Administrative Office of the Courts to run the program statewide and sets mediator qualifications, including a master's degree in psychology, social work, family counseling or a comparable discipline and at least 40 hours of mediation training.
If the court appoints someone to look into it
Chapter 50 does not create a custody evaluator or a guardian ad litem for private custody cases. What Chapter 50 does provide is Article 5, the Parenting Coordinator statute (secs. 50-90 through 50-100), for 'high-conflict' cases, defined in sec. 50-90(1) as custody actions where the parties show an ongoing pattern of excessive litigation, anger and distrust, verbal abuse, physical aggression or threats of it, difficulty communicating and cooperating about the children, or other conditions the court finds warrant an appointment. Sec. 50-13.6 lets the court, in its discretion, order payment of reasonable attorney's fees to 'an interested party acting in good faith who has insufficient means to defray the expense of the suit,' including on a modification motion. Custody evaluations in North Carolina are typically ordered under the Rules of Civil Procedure and paid for as the appointing order directs.
Moving away
What you must do before you move
North Carolina has no relocation statute – no notice period, no mileage trigger, no separate permission procedure. Two things fill the gap. Sec. 50-13.2(c) allows an order to provide for the child to be taken outside the state, and if the order contemplates the child's return, the judge may require a bond or other security conditioned on the child's return. And sec. 50-13.7(a) treats a move as an ordinary motion to modify: a custody order 'may be modified or vacated at any time, upon motion in the cause and a showing of changed circumstances by either party or anyone interested.' North Carolina appellate decisions add that the change in circumstances must affect the welfare of the child, and they have developed relocation-specific considerations – but those come from case law, not from Chapter 50. If your custody order does not address moving, put a notice-and-consent provision in it.
Later on
Changing the order
N.C. Gen. Stat. sec. 50-13.7(a): a custody order 'may be modified or vacated at any time, upon motion in the cause and a showing of changed circumstances by either party or anyone interested.' There is no waiting period and no separate endangerment track. North Carolina case law adds that the changed circumstances must affect the welfare of the child, and that once that is shown the court applies the best-interest standard afresh. Grandparents may seek custody or visitation by motion in the cause on a showing of changed circumstances where custody has already been determined (sec. 50-13.5(j)).
If you were never married
Paternity comes first for a father. N.C. Gen. Stat. sec. 50-13.1(a) lets 'any parent, relative, or other person, agency, organization or institution claiming the right to custody of a minor child' file – but a putative father of a child born out of wedlock generally has to establish paternity to be a parent for these purposes. Sec. 49-14(a) allows a civil action to establish paternity at any time before the child's eighteenth birthday, with a copy of the birth certificate attached. Sec. 49-14(b): 'Proof of paternity pursuant to this section shall be by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence.' Sec. 49-14(d): if the action is brought more than three years after the child's birth, or after the putative father's death, paternity cannot be established in a contested case without blood or genetic marker test evidence. Once established, sec. 49-15 says 'the rights, duties, and obligations of the mother and the father so established, with regard to support and custody of the child, shall be the same, and may be determined and enforced in the same manner, as if the child were the legitimate child of the father and mother.' Sec. 50-13.1(a) also bars a person from claiming custody of a child conceived through certain sexual offenses for which they were convicted, and sec. 50-13.1(a1) requires anyone filing for custody to disclose in the pleadings convictions for a sexually violent offense, human trafficking, involuntary or sexual servitude, or the sexual exploitation of a minor, and any prior grant or denial of custody in any jurisdiction.
Two things surprise North Carolina parents. First, there is no list. Most states hand the judge ten or fifteen factors; North Carolina hands the judge 'all relevant factors' plus a hard requirement to consider domestic violence and safety, and then requires written findings. That gives you real freedom to build your case around what actually matters for your child – and it means a well-organized, specific record about day-to-day caretaking counts for more here than reciting a statute. Second, mediation is not optional. Under sec. 50-13.1(b) your contested custody case is set for mediation before or alongside the hearing date automatically, and you will usually attend an orientation and a mediation session before a judge hears anything. If there are allegations of abuse, neglect, domestic violence, alcoholism or drug abuse, sec. 50-13.1(c) is your route to a waiver – raise it early, in writing, rather than showing up to mediate.
What we could not confirm
- North Carolina has no relocation statute and no statutory best-interest factor list, so much of what governs a move – and much of what a judge actually weighs – comes from North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court decisions we could not verify on an official state site. The same is true of the requirement that a 'change in circumstances' under sec. 50-13.7 must affect the child's welfare. There is also no statute on custody evaluations or guardians ad litem in private custody cases; ask the clerk in your county how evaluations are ordered and paid for locally, and confirm whether your judicial district's mediation program has its own orientation requirements.
Compare all fifty states
Where 50/50 really is the default, and the twenty-six states where nothing is presumed.
And the money side
How North Carolina calculates child support, and the overnight number that changes it.