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continue existing custodial arrangements, reduce the custodial
arrangements to writing, and share equally in the legal authority
and responsibility for major decisions concerning the children.
There is no evidence in the record that Mr. Kean and Ms. Kean
ever reduced the custodial arrangements to writing pursuant to
the November 25, 1992, Order. For 2 months in 1992, Ms. Kean and
the children lived in a residence apart from Mr. Kean. That Ms.
Kean and the children lived apart from Mr. Kean for 2 months does
not necessarily mean that Mr. Kean was not a custodial parent.
During the time when they lived apart, Judge Ross issued the
November 25, 1992, Order, denying both Mr. Kean and Ms. Kean’s
separate applications for physical custody, thereby confirming
that Mr. Kean and Ms. Kean were both custodial parents.
As of December 1992, Ms. Kean and the children resumed
living in the marital residence with Mr. Kean. The January 9,
1996, Order, was the first of the orders issued by Judge Ross to
determine physical custody as an issue separate from legal
custody. In the January 9, 1996, Order, Judge Ross ordered that
Mr. Kean and Ms. Kean share physical custody and set out the
particular schedule that they should use to share physical
custody. There is no indication in the record that Mr. Kean was
a noncustodial parent at any time during the divorce proceeding.
Because Mr. Kean was a joint custodial parent, N.J. Stat. Ann.
sec. 9:2-5 (West 2003), quoted above, would have had no
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