Louisville Child Custody Lawyer

Custody cases are the hardest cases in family law because they are about the people who matter most. Each parent loves the child and believes they know what is best. When parents cannot agree, a family court judge decides how decisions will be made and how much time the child spends in each home. Those orders often last for years.

At Bowman Legal, Louisville child custody lawyer Jason A. Bowman represents mothers and fathers in custody and parenting time cases in Jefferson County and throughout Kentucky. Whether you are seeking custody for the first time, defending against a request to change an existing order, or responding to a relocation, the goal is the same: an order that protects your child and your place in your child’s life.

Custody and Parenting Time Are Two Different Things

Kentucky law separates two questions that people often lump together:

• Custody is about decision making. A parent with legal custody has the right to make major decisions about the child’s education, nonemergency medical care, and religious upbringing. Custody may be joint, with both parents sharing those decisions, or sole, with one parent making them.
• Parenting time (also called timesharing or visitation) is the schedule. It controls where the child lives and when the child is with each parent.

A parent can have joint custody but less than equal parenting time, or the reverse. Understanding which issue is really in dispute shapes the strategy for the whole case.

Kentucky’s Presumption of Joint Custody and Equal Parenting Time

Since 2018, KRS 403.270 has created a rebuttable presumption that joint custody and equally shared parenting time are in a child’s best interests. This is one of the most important rules in Kentucky family law, and it means a court starts from equality rather than from a preference for either parent.

The presumption can be overcome. A parent who seeks sole custody or more than half of the parenting time must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a different arrangement serves the child’s best interests. Under KRS 403.315, the presumption does not apply at all when a domestic violence order has been entered against a party.

Because the presumption puts the burden on the parent asking for something other than equal time, the evidence each side gathers before the hearing matters a great deal.

How Kentucky Courts Decide the Child’s Best Interests

When the presumption is contested, the court weighs the best interest factors in KRS 403.270, including:

• The wishes of the child’s parents and any de facto custodian
• The wishes of the child, with due consideration given to the child’s age and maturity
• The child’s relationship with each parent, siblings, and anyone else who significantly affects the child’s welfare
• The motivation of the adults involved and their ability to put the child’s needs first
• The child’s adjustment to home, school, and community
• The mental and physical health of everyone involved
• Any information, records, and evidence of domestic violence
• The likelihood that each parent will allow the child frequent, meaningful, and continuing contact with the other parent

There is no age at which a child gets to choose where to live in Kentucky. A judge may interview a child privately in chambers under KRS 403.290 and give the child’s wishes appropriate weight, but the decision remains the court’s.

Evidence That Matters in a Custody Case

Custody cases are decided on evidence, not on who tells the more sympathetic story. Depending on the issues, that evidence may include:

• Testimony from each parent and from teachers, coaches, family members, and others who see the child regularly
• School attendance, grades, and medical records
• Text messages, emails, and parenting app communications between the parents
• Records from prior court cases, including domestic violence and dependency proceedings
• A custody evaluation by a mental health professional, which the court may order under KRS 403.300
• The recommendation of a guardian ad litem or friend of the court, when one is appointed

Gathering, organizing, and presenting that evidence well, and keeping weak or improper evidence out, is what trial preparation in a custody case looks like.

De Facto Custodians and Third Party Custody

Kentucky allows a person who is not a parent to seek custody in some circumstances. Under KRS 403.270, a grandparent, relative, or other caregiver may qualify as a de facto custodian if they prove by clear and convincing evidence that they have been the child’s primary caregiver and primary financial supporter for at least six months (for a child under three) or one year (for a child three or older). A de facto custodian stands on equal footing with a parent in a custody case.

Kentucky’s appellate courts continue to refine these rules. We wrote about a recent decision in Kentucky Supreme Court Expands De Facto Custodian Rights. Third party custody cases are highly fact specific, whether you are the caregiver seeking custody or the parent responding to the request.

Unmarried Parents

Custody and parenting time work the same way whether or not the parents were ever married. For unmarried parents, paternity must be legally established before a father can ask the court for custody or parenting time. Once paternity is established, the same presumption of joint custody and equal parenting time and the same best interest factors apply.

Modifying an Existing Custody Order

Life changes, and custody orders sometimes need to change with it. Kentucky treats modifications of custody and modifications of parenting time differently:

• Changing custody. Under KRS 403.340, a parent generally cannot file a motion to modify custody within two years of the decree unless supporting affidavits show the child’s present environment may seriously endanger the child’s physical, mental, moral, or emotional health. After two years, the court considers whether there has been a change in circumstances and whether a modification is in the child’s best interests.
• Changing parenting time. Under KRS 403.320, the court may modify parenting time whenever a change would serve the child’s best interests, without the two year waiting period.

Common reasons for modification include a parent’s move, changes in work schedules, a child’s changing needs as they grow older, and one parent repeatedly failing to follow the existing order.

Relocation

When a parent wants to move with the child, the move usually affects the other parent’s time. The Kentucky Supreme Court held in Pennington v. Marcum, 266 S.W.3d 759 (Ky. 2008), that a relocation request is treated as a request to modify parenting time and decided under the child’s best interests. Many custody orders also require written notice before a move, so the existing order should be reviewed before any plans are made. Relocation cases move quickly and are often decided on the strength of a detailed plan for preserving the child’s relationship with the parent who is not moving.

Temporary Custody Orders

A custody case can take months to reach a final hearing. In the meantime, the court can enter temporary orders setting custody and a parenting schedule. Temporary arrangements frequently become the baseline the court looks at later, so the first hearing in a custody case deserves full preparation.

When the Trial Court Gets It Wrong

Custody orders must be supported by evidence and by written findings that address the statutory factors. When a court skips required findings, misapplies the presumption, or relies on evidence it should not have considered, the order may be vacated on appeal. We discussed one such case in Kentucky Court of Appeals Vacates Custody Order: Why the Details in a Family Court Order Matter.

Because Bowman Legal handles family law appeals, every custody case is tried with the appellate record in mind. That means asking for specific findings, making the right objections, and building a record that holds up if either side appeals.

Why Parents Choose Jason A. Bowman as Their Louisville Child Custody Lawyer

• Appellate perspective. Jason A. Bowman handles family law appeals in the Kentucky Court of Appeals and Supreme Court and has been counsel in published Court of Appeals decisions. He knows what custody findings must contain to survive review.
• Trial preparation. Custody cases are prepared for a contested hearing from the first day, which gives you leverage in negotiation and mediation.
• Mediation experience. As a certified mediator, he helps parents reach agreed parenting plans when agreement is possible.
• Recognized in family law. Jason A. Bowman is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
• Direct attorney access. You work directly with your attorney, not a rotating team.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Kentucky favor mothers in custody cases? No. Kentucky law presumes that joint custody and equal parenting time are in the child’s best interests, regardless of the parent’s gender. Either parent can rebut the presumption with evidence.

At what age can my child decide where to live? There is no set age in Kentucky. The court considers the child’s wishes as one factor and gives them more weight as the child matures, but the judge makes the final decision.

Can I stop the other parent from seeing our child if they do not pay child support? No. Child support and parenting time are separate obligations. Withholding parenting time because of unpaid support can hurt your own custody case. The proper remedy is to enforce the support order through the court. See our Child Support page.

What happens if the other parent will not follow the custody order? The court can enforce its orders through contempt and, in appropriate cases, by modifying parenting time. Keep a written record of every missed exchange or violation.

Do I need a lawyer for a custody case? You are not required to have one, but custody orders can last for the rest of your child’s minority and are difficult to change. A lawyer helps you present the evidence the court needs and avoid mistakes that are hard to undo.

Does a domestic violence order affect custody? Yes. Under KRS 403.315, the presumption of joint custody and equal parenting time does not apply when a domestic violence order has been entered against a party, and the court considers evidence of domestic violence in deciding custody. See our Domestic Violence page.

This page provides general information about Kentucky law and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney client relationship. Every case depends on its own facts. THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT.