To file for child custody in North Carolina online, you use the state’s free Guide & File system to build your forms through a guided interview, then submit them electronically through the File & Serve portal. Both tools are run by the North Carolina Judicial Branch, and together they let you open a district court custody case without setting foot in the clerk’s office. Before you start the interview, you need to confirm the court has authority to hear your case and gather specific background information about the child.
Confirm North Carolina Can Hear Your Case
Two things have to line up before you file: venue and jurisdiction.
Venue is about county. You can file in the county where the child lives, where the child is physically present, or where a parent resides.1North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 50-13.1 – Action or Proceeding for Custody of Minor Child
Jurisdiction is about the state as a whole. Under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, North Carolina must be the child’s “home state,” meaning the child has lived here with a parent or someone acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months right before you file.2North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 50A-201 – Initial Child-Custody Jurisdiction For a baby under six months old, the home state is wherever the child has lived since birth.3North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code Chapter 50A – Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act Short trips for vacations or family visits count as part of the six months, not breaks in it.
One boundary worth flagging: if a child is in North Carolina and facing abandonment or abuse but the six-month rule is not met, courts can act under temporary emergency jurisdiction.4North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 50A-204 – Temporary Emergency Jurisdiction That is not a shortcut around residency and is reserved for genuine safety emergencies.
Any parent, relative, or other person claiming a right to custody can start a case, though non-parents face a higher legal bar because parents have a constitutionally protected relationship with their children.1North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 50-13.1 – Action or Proceeding for Custody of Minor Child
Gather Your Information Before You Open the Interview
Guide & File does not save automatically between questions, so you want everything in front of you before you start.
You will need full legal names, current addresses, and dates of birth for yourself, the other parent, and every child involved. North Carolina law also requires you to disclose, under oath, every address where the child has lived during the past five years, along with the names and current addresses of every person the child lived with during that period.5North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 50A-209 – Information to Be Submitted to Court This history goes into a sworn affidavit, so accuracy matters. If an old address is genuinely unreachable, the statute lets you provide what is “reasonably ascertainable.”
Think through what you actually want to ask for. Legal custody covers who makes major decisions about education, health care, and religion. Physical custody covers where the child lives day to day. You can request sole custody, joint custody, or a mix, and neither parent gets an automatic preference.6North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 50-13.2 – Custody of Children
The interview will build three core documents for you:
- Complaint for Child Custody, where you identify the parties and state what you want.
- Civil Summons (AOC-CV-100), the official notice giving the other parent 30 days to respond.7North Carolina Judicial Branch. Civil Summons – AOC-CV-100
- Affidavit as to Status of Minor Child (AOC-CV-609), the sworn statement holding your five-year residency history and any other custody proceedings that could affect the case.8North Carolina Judicial Branch. Affidavit as to Status of Minor Child
Build Your Forms in Guide and File
Guide & File is the North Carolina Judicial Branch’s free online interview tool.9North Carolina Judicial Branch. Guide and File Training and Resources Instead of downloading blank AOC forms and guessing where each detail belongs, you answer plain-language questions and the system drops your answers onto the correct forms.
Start by creating a free account. The account lets you save progress and return later, which matters because the interview covers a lot of ground: your details, the child’s history, the other parent’s information, and the specific custody terms you want. When you finish, Guide & File produces a PDF package containing your Complaint, Summons, and Affidavit.
Review every page before moving forward. The system reliably places information in the right spots, but it cannot catch a wrong address or misspelled name that you typed during the interview. Errors on the sworn affidavit are the ones you especially want to catch.
Practical setup: any modern browser works, though Chrome and Firefox tend to run smoothest. Use a stable internet connection. If you can, review the final PDF on something larger than a phone screen.
Submit and Pay Through eFileNC
Once your PDF package is ready, you file it through File & Serve, the state’s electronic filing portal.10North Carolina Judicial Branch. File and Serve Training and Resources You can typically move from Guide & File into File & Serve without re-uploading anything separately.
The filing fee for a district court custody action is $150. That breaks down as $130 for support of the General Court of Justice, $16 for courtroom facilities, and $4 for court technology infrastructure.11North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 7A-305 – Uniform Civil Process Fees Payment is by credit card or electronic check through the portal when the clerk accepts the submission.
If You Cannot Afford the Fee
You can ask the court to let you proceed without paying by filing a Petition to Proceed as an Indigent, form AOC-G-106.12North Carolina Judicial Branch. Petition to Sue/Appeal/File Motions as an Indigent You qualify automatically if you receive SNAP, TANF, or Supplemental Security Income, or if you are represented by a legal aid organization. Without those benefits you can still petition by explaining that you cannot cover both the filing fee and your household’s basic needs. The clerk may request additional financial documentation.
Serve the Other Parent
Filing does not notify the other parent. Once the clerk accepts your case, you are responsible for making sure the other parent receives formal service of the Summons and Complaint. North Carolina gives you several options.13North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 1A-1 Rule 4 – Process
- County sheriff, who delivers the papers in person for a statutory fee of $30 per person served.14North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 7A-311 – Uniform Civil Process Fees
- Certified or registered mail with return receipt requested, addressed directly to the other parent. Postal costs typically run around $18 to $19.
- Personal delivery by an adult non-party at least 21 years old, if the other parent is outside North Carolina.
- Voluntary acceptance of service, where the other parent signs an acceptance form.
After service, file proof with the court. The Affidavit of Service (AOC-CV-662) documents who was served, how, and when.15North Carolina Judicial Branch. Affidavit of Service – AOC-CV-662 If the sheriff served the papers, the sheriff’s office files its own return. If you used certified mail, attach the signed return receipt. Without proof of service on file, the court will not move your case forward.
If you genuinely cannot locate the other parent after a diligent search, you can ask the court for permission to serve by publication, which means running a legal notice in a qualifying local newspaper once a week for three consecutive weeks. Judges expect documentation of the efforts you made to find the person before granting this.
What Happens After You File
The Civil Summons gives the other parent 30 days from the date of service to file a written answer.7North Carolina Judicial Branch. Civil Summons – AOC-CV-100 What comes next depends on whether they respond.
If the other parent files a response and disputes your request, the court will order mediation before scheduling a trial. This is not optional. North Carolina requires all contested custody and visitation cases to go through the state’s Custody Mediation and Visitation Program unless a judge grants a waiver.1North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 50-13.1 – Action or Proceeding for Custody of Minor Child The program has two parts: an orientation class, then at least one session with a neutral mediator.16North Carolina Judicial Branch. Child Custody and Visitation Mediation Program If both parents sign an agreement, a judge can turn it into a court order. If not, the case goes to a hearing.
A judge can waive mediation for good cause. The statute specifically lists domestic violence allegations, child abuse or neglect allegations, substance abuse by a parent, severe psychological or emotional problems, and situations where a party lives more than 50 miles from the court.1North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 50-13.1 – Action or Proceeding for Custody of Minor Child Raise any of these early rather than waiting for the mediation referral.
If the other parent does nothing within the 30-day window, you can ask the clerk for an entry of default and then request a default judgment granting the custody arrangement you asked for in the Complaint. Custody defaults are not quite as automatic as debt-collection defaults. Because the decision centers on the child’s welfare, a judge may still want some evidence that your proposed arrangement serves the child’s best interest before signing an order. A default can sometimes be set aside if the other parent later shows up with a valid reason for missing the deadline, which is one more reason to keep your filing and service records clean.