Legal Question in Family Law in North Carolina

Your question makes no sense. Depending on your perspective both parents are 'the other parent'. If you are asking when do the children have some say in which parent they go with, the answer to that is at 18. Otherwise, if the parents can not decide, a judge will do it for them and while some judges will take into consideration where the child wants to go, the deciding principle is whats in the best interest of the child regardless of what the child wants.