Child custody in Kansas

What the law tells the judge to look at

In the order the law lists them.

1. Each parent's role and involvement with your child before and after the separation.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(1)
2. What each parent wants for custody or residency.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(2)
3. What your child wants, if the child is old and mature enough.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(3)
4. Your child's age.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(4)
5. Your child's emotional and physical needs.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(5)
6. How your child gets along with parents, brothers and sisters, and anyone else who may strongly affect the child's best interests.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(6)
7. How well your child is adjusted to home, school, and community.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(7)
8. Each parent's willingness and ability to respect the child's bond with the other parent and allow a continuing relationship.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(8)
9. Evidence of domestic abuse, including a pattern of physically or emotionally abusive behavior (or threats) used to control a partner or household member, or an act of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(9)
10. How well the parents communicate, cooperate, and manage parenting duties.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(10)
11. Your child's school activity schedule.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(11)
12. The parents' work schedules.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(12)
13. Where the parents live and work.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(13)
14. Where your child goes to school.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(14)
15. Whether a parent must register as an offender (Kansas offender registration act or a similar law).K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(15)
16. Whether a parent has been convicted of child abuse.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(16)
17. Whether a parent lives with someone who must register as an offender.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(17)
18. Whether a parent lives with someone who has been convicted of child abuse.K.S.A. 23-3203(a)(18)

Other things the judge considers

• The judge can order a parent to have a domestic violence offender assessment by a certified batterer intervention program and to follow its recommendations.K.S.A. 23-3203(b)
• If you have an agreed parenting plan, the law presumes it is in your child's best interest. The judge can make a different order only with specific findings explaining why.K.S.A. 23-3202
• The judge may talk with your child in chambers (private office). A party can ask for a record of the interview.K.S.A. 23-3209
• In contested cases, the judge can order an investigation and report by a court services officer or another person.K.S.A. 23-3210

What the judge may not consider

Neither parent has a built-in right to custody over the other, whatever the child's age. There is no presumption that a baby or young child should live with the mother.

Joint custody

Joint legal custody comes first in the law's order of preference. If the judge does not order joint legal custody, the judge must state specific findings for sole legal custody. There is no presumption about where the child lives or how time is split.

The child's wishes

The judge considers the wishes of a child of sufficient age and maturity. No age is set. The judge may interview the child in chambers.

Domestic violence

Evidence of domestic abuse is one of the factors the judge must consider. There is no general presumption against custody for an abusive parent. But the law presumes it is not in the child's best interest to give custody or residency to a parent who lives with a registered offender or with a person convicted of child abuse.

Who has custody before a court order

Once paternity is acknowledged, both the father and the mother have rights of custody and parenting time with the child unless a court order changes them. Custody, residency, and parenting time can be set and enforced in a court order.

Establishing paternity

How

Unmarried parents can sign a Paternity Consent Form (a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity), usually at the hospital after birth. A man who signs it is legally presumed to be the father, and the acknowledgment is a legal finding of paternity that only a court can end. A signer can revoke it within 60 days after signing, or before any court or agency proceeding about the child that the signer is part of (such as a child support case), whichever comes first. A signer who was under 18 can challenge it until age 19. After that, it can be challenged in court only for fraud, duress (threat), or a material mistake of fact, and the request must be filed as soon as practicable after the person learns of it. Genetic test results that exclude the father count as a material mistake of fact. The judge must first consider the child's best interests. If paternity is disputed, the court may order genetic testing; Child Support Services schedules it at no cost.

Form

Paternity Consent Form (Acknowledgment of Paternity)

Cancellation form

No form. You file a request with the district court.

Agency

Kansas Department for Children and Families, Child Support Services (with KDHE Office of Vital Statistics)
https://www.dcf.ks.gov/services/CSS/Pages/CSSServices.aspx
1-888-757-2445

Changing an order

The judge can change custody, residency, or parenting time when a material change of circumstances is shown. Your motion must state all known facts for the change in a verified motion or affidavit; if they do not make a basic (prima facie) case, the judge must deny it. Parenting time alone can be changed whenever that serves your child's best interest. Repeated unreasonable denial of or interference with parenting time can be a material change. An emergency order cannot move a child from the parent who has had sole actual residency without sworn testimony of extraordinary circumstances.

Law: K.S.A. 23-3218, 23-3219, 23-3221

If the other parent does not follow the order

A parenting time order can be enforced under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act or the Kansas law on enforcing visitation and parenting time (K.S.A. 23-3401 et seq.). Repeated unreasonable denial of parenting time can justify changing custody, residency, or parenting time. The judge can also order exchanges or visits at a child exchange and visitation center.

Law: K.S.A. 23-3208(b), (c), 23-3221

Grandparent visitation

Since July 1, 2024, the Uniform Nonparent Visitation Act covers grandparents, brothers and sisters, stepparents, and other non-parents. A court can order visits only if the non-parent proves:

• Denying visits would harm the child (a significant bad effect on the child's physical, emotional, or psychological well-being)
• The non-parent was a 'consistent caretaker' within the past year (for example, lived with the child for at least 12 months, regularly cared for the child, and made day-to-day decisions, without pay) or has a substantial relationship with the child
• Visits are in the child's best interest.

The law presumes a parent's decision about visits is best for the child. The non-parent must overcome that by clear and convincing evidence, but does not have to prove the parent is unfit. The petition must be sworn and give specific facts; the court dismisses it if it does not state a basic case. A foster parent cannot use this law just because they fostered the child.

Custody by someone who is not a parent

If the judge finds probable cause that the child is a child in need of care, or that neither parent is fit, the judge can give temporary residency to a grandparent, aunt, uncle, adult sibling, or another person or agency, with written findings.

Custody and visitation in the order

Yes. A PFA order can give temporary custody and residency and set temporary parenting time for the parties' minor children.

Military parents

A parent's deployment, mobilization, temporary duty, or unaccompanied tour alone is not a material change that justifies a permanent change in custody. Orders limiting that parent's time because of deployment must be temporary, and the returning parent can ask the court to review them.

Law: K.S.A. 23-3217

Preventing abduction

Kansas has the Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act (UCAPA), so a court can order steps to prevent a child from being wrongfully taken or kept.

Law: K.S.A. Chapter 23, Article 38 (23-3801 et seq.)