Joint custody involves sharing parental responsibility for the child. In North Carolina, no laws limit where parents with joint or sole custody can move with their children. In addition, the law does not define joint custody versus sole custody; instead, these terms are generally defined within the separation agreement or custody order. Child custody refers to a parent’s authority to care for their child during a divorce. A court can assign these powers between spouses as joint custody or only one parent in sole charge.

Dividing these rights is understandably complicated, and couples should avoid trying to arrange these issues by themselves. Instead, lawyers need to be involved in assessing the child’s best interests are being met and not forgoing any of their fundamental rights.
These disputes do not have protracted, nasty fights. On the contrary, most couples agree that working together in a child custody agreement makes the divorce a lot less stressful.