The family of a murdered Cary woman is getting permanent custody of her daughters.

Friday morning Brad Cooper, who is in jail accused of murdering his wife, Nancy Cooper, signed an agreement giving custody of his girls to Nancy's parents and sister.

It isn't often that two sides agree wholeheartedly in a situation as complicated as the Cooper custody order, but after Friday's hearing, Nancy Cooper's parents, Garry and Donna Rentz, hugged the defense attorney.

"We're just very happy today," said Donna Rentz.

The Rentzs, along with Nancy's twin sister, Krista Lister, now have permanent custody of the girls, who are living in Canada with Lister.

"Certainly while Brad's awaiting trial he's not able to care for the girls and he did not want another disruption in their lives," said Brad Cooper's attorney, Debbie Sandlin. "So we've entered an order that leaves them exactly where they are."

"It's the predictability that Donna and I were worried about," said Garry Rentz. "You want to be sure that you can say to your children, 'Here's where you live and here is where you go to school and here is the future.' It's more easy to do that today, so that's important to us."

While this new agreement closes the matter for the foreseeable future, Brad Cooper's attorney says if he's eventually acquitted, they'll want to re-work the order.

"Even though it's labeled a permanent order, in North Carolina a custody order is never a permanent order," said Sandlin. "It can always be revisited with a substantial change in circumstances."

The permanent order keeps all of the agreements that were in place under the temporary custody order that had been in effect since last year, including at least two phone conversations a week between Brad Cooper and his daughters.

Full Coverage Of Nancy Cooper Case

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