A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to amend the laws pertaining to child custody to incorporate a presumed shared parenting standard.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 50‑13.2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 50‑13.2.  Who entitled to custody; presumed shared responsibility; terms of custody; visitation rights of grandparents; taking child out of State; visitation by electronic communication; consideration of parent's military service.
(a)	It shall be the policy of this State to:
(1)	Encourage focused, good faith, best interest, and child‑centered joint parenting agreement development while reducing needless litigation over child custody matters.
(2)	Allow and encourage parents to take responsibility for their child by setting the expectation that parenthood will be a significant and ongoing responsibility requiring the creation of a joint parenting agreement.
(3)	Establish laws, programs, and court practices that encourage and support the maximum participation of a child in the parents' lives regardless of the parents' present marital status, subject to laws regarding abuse, neglect, and dependency.
(4)	Encourage both parents to share equitably in the rights and responsibilities of raising their child, even after dissolution of marriage or unwed relationship.
(5)	Ensure that a child will have maximum contact with both parents through a presumption of shared responsibility unless it has been established based on a preponderance of the evidence that one of the parents is unfit or obstructs a healthy relationship with the other parent.
…."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.