NC H764

Amends North Carolina child custody law to establish a state policy encouraging shared parenting and joint custody arrangements between parents.

Replaces the standard "best interest of the child" approach with a presumption of shared parental responsibility unless one parent is proven unfit or obstructs a healthy parent-child relationship by a preponderance of the evidence.

Establishes five policy goals: encouraging good faith joint parenting agreements, promoting parental responsibility, maximizing child contact with both parents, ensuring equitable sharing of parental rights and responsibilities, and enabling maximum contact with both parents regardless of marital status.

Removes the previous language stating no presumption applies between mother and father regarding who better promotes the child's welfare, replacing it with a presumed shared responsibility standard.

Effective upon becoming law.