Legal Question in Family Law in North Carolina

You already have physical custody of the children since they live with you and visit with their mother. However, if there are no custody orders, nothing prevents her from taking the children. Given that, I would either work out some kind of marital agreement providing for custody OR commence a formal action for custody. The longer the children aree with you, the better it will be in terms of having your custody petition granted, but the mother is going to be allowed reasonable visitation absent some bona fide reason.

Personally, if you and your wife can amicably work this out through an agreement or some type of collaborative law proceeding, it will be better for both of you and your children in the long run. Custody battles, if this goes to court, can get very very expensive.