Domestic violence affects how custody is awarded to protect children.
It won’t come as news to anyone that domestic violence is very harmful to children. Besides the abuse that the child may suffer directly, they can also suffer indirectly due to abuse of other parties in the home. For example, they may become neglected if one parent is frequently laid up with injuries or paralyzed with fear of the other parent. Children can also become emotionally or psychologically scarred by witnessing domestic violence. In some cases they even experience such high levels of stress and anxiety that it affects their health.
Fortunately, the law does provide for ways to protect children from the direct and indirect effects of domestic violence. The first line of protection is typically a domestic violence restraining order, which one parent can take out against the other or against any other intimate partner who is abusive. The second line of protection is how the courts treat custody and visitation rights in cases involving domestic violence.
Custody Cases Involving Domestic Violence
In general, a judge will treat your custody case as a domestic violence case if a domestic violence conviction involving abuse between you and the other parent exists and is less than 5 years old. The judge may also decide to treat your case as a domestic violence case if any court has found that either parent committed domestic violence in the home. Once the domestic violence card is in play, it will be very difficult for the abusive parent to get any type of custody, either sole or joint. However, they will be permitted to ask for visitation. Depending on the circumstances of the case this visitation will probably be supervised.
Proving Yourself After a Domestic Violence Conviction
The good news is that the law does provide for amendments to custody and visitation agreements based on personal growth and changing life circumstances. This gives parents who were initially denied custody due to domestic violence the opportunity to prove themselves worthy of having a relationship with their children. In order to receive joint or sole custody, the formerly abusive parent must:
- Prove that a custody change supports the best interests of the children
- Comply with all court orders which may include:
- A 52-week batterer intervention program
- Substance abuse counseling
- Parenting classes
- Comply with the terms of probation or parole, if any
- Obey any restraining orders
- NOT have committed any further domestic violence
Changing Custody and Visitation Agreements
Often, the mechanism used for updating custody and visitation agreements is mediation rather than litigation. In cases involving domestic violence, parents have the right to bring a support person with them to the mediation or to meet with the mediator without the abuser being present. If a satisfactory agreement cannot be reached through mediation, the case will then go to court.
If you have questions about how domestic violence will impact your custody case, please don’t hesitate to contact a skilled child custody attorney.
