Legal Question in Family Law in North Carolina

Divorce and child custody are 2 different things. If the party who filed for divorce only asked for divorce then that is all that is going to be the subject of the court's order unless the complaint or answer also included set forth matters for child custody. The part you are reading from sounds like it is only a recitation of the facts, although I would have to see the decree to be certain.

The good news is that custody can be asserted at ant time. Legal custody is joint in most cases (barring unusual circumstances). It refers to things like access to school/medical records or joint decisions about where the child will go to school or what faith, if any the child will be raised with. Physical custody refers to where the child lives on a daily basis and which parent feeds and clothes the child. The other parent pays support based on the number of overnight visits that the parent has with the child and the parties' combined gross monthly incomes. The non-custodial parent has periods of visitation with the child, depending on the age and circumstances.

It would be in everyone's best interests if the court could stay out of it and if the parties could reach a mutually satisfactory agreement. Even if one of the parents files a custody action, the court is going to try to get the parents to reach agreement through mediation, so you should save yourselves the expense and try to do this now.

If you are in the Mecklenburg Counry area, there is an online self-serve center with the forms at http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/courts/meck/disk01/index.html

The site also offers clinics for those who want to represent themeselves or lists lawyers who will provide limited or reduced fee services.