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North Carolina Family Court: Custody and Parenting-Time Guide

Plain-language North Carolina information for a custody or parenting-time route, including filing, official forms, free help, fee waivers, and legal-cost context.

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This page provides general legal information, not legal advice. State law, court rules, forms, and local procedures can change. Confirm current requirements with the court handling the case.

State laws, court rules, and forms can change. Automated link checks will run every week once the monitoring job is deployed. Please check each cited source before relying on it. Report a broken link or changed law.

Find the right family court

The custody or parenting-time route described in this guide is handled through the North Carolina District Courts. Other family-law matters can follow a different court or procedure.

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How North Carolina courts decide custody

North Carolina custody orders must promote the child's interest and welfare, with relevant factors including domestic violence and child and party safety.Sources:G.S. 50-13.2

  • Between parents, the statute creates no presumption about which parent better promotes the child's interest and welfare; joint custody is considered on either parent's request.Sources:G.S. 50-13.2

Key legal sources

Parenting time

North Carolina treats visitation as a form of custody, and a custody order may include visitation terms that promote the child's interest and welfare.Sources:Child Custody, G.S. 50-13.2

Key legal sources

How to file

This draft is limited to Wake County's first, non-emergency custody or visitation complaint between a child's mother and father. It excludes other counties, divorce, modification, enforcement, emergency or protection-order, third-party, adoption, guardianship, and interstate matters.Sources:File It Yourself Domestic Packets

  1. Confirm the Wake County first-custody route fits

    The Wake packet is for a first court determination of custody or visitation between the child's mother and father; do not treat it as guidance for another county or excluded case type.Sources:File It Yourself Domestic Packets

  2. Complete every item in the current Wake custody packet

    The Wake page says all listed forms are required for a complete packet, including the complaint coversheet and instructions, summons, cover sheet, custody complaint, minor-child affidavit, Wake affidavits and mediation forms, service affidavit, servicemember declaration, and service information.Sources:File It Yourself Domestic Packets

  3. Confirm local service and mediation details before filing

    The current Wake packet includes a local custody-mediation cover sheet and Order to Attend. Confirm current service, scheduling, and mediation instructions with Wake Family Court before relying on a local process detail.Sources:File It Yourself Domestic Packets

Official forms

Open the official forms portal.

  • The official Wake County page provides a current local Child Custody/Visitation packet; it is not a statewide North Carolina packet.Sources:File It Yourself Domestic Packets

Free court self-help

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Fee waivers

North Carolina law permits a district-court judge or clerk to authorize an indigent suit when the required affidavit shows inability to advance costs, subject to the statute's criteria and discretion.Sources:G.S. 1-110

Who may qualify

  • The statute lists electronic food and nutrition benefits, Work First Family Assistance, SSI, and qualifying legal-services representation as criteria; a judge or clerk may also authorize a person unable to advance costs who does not meet a listed criterion.Sources:G.S. 1-110

What to do

  1. File the required indigency affidavit with the civil case

    Confirm the current Wake Clerk form and submission requirements; the statute requires an affidavit and permits later dismissal and costs if allegations are untrue or the action is frivolous or malicious.Sources:G.S. 1-110

Key statute or rule

Attorney cost benchmark

Lawyer fees vary by county, experience, services, and the facts of a case. This state benchmark is context for planning, not a quote.

State and local details to confirm

  • Wake County's packet expressly says all listed forms are required for a complete packet and is limited to an initial non-emergency mother-and-father custody or visitation claim.Sources:File It Yourself Domestic Packets

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