The Reno, NV family courts must follow state law in deciding how to award custody. The law limits the discretion of the judge by making certain requirements about how custody decisions are to be decided. Your Reno family law attorney will be able to tell you how these requirements are likely to affect your case.
How a Judge Decides Custody in Reno, NV Family Court
The laws of Nevada require judges to prioritize the best interests of the child above all other things. It’s important that parents grasp this, as this standard should affect how all custody requests are framed. The judge will consider how your request affects you and the other parent, but ultimately that matters very little in comparison to how the child is affected.
How Nevada Law Decides What’s Best for the Child
1. Presumptions
The law presumes that it is in a child’s best interests for the parents to have joint custody. This puts the burden on you to prove that it’s not in the child’s best interests if you believe you should have sole custody. However, even this presumption has some presumptions!
For Children Born to Married Parents
Joint custody applies automatically unless there’s enough evidence to show that one of the parents won’t be able to care for the child for at least 146 days a year, or if that parent has ever committed an act of domestic violence.
For Children Born to Unmarried Parents
The court will still presume joint custody is best unless the paternity of the child hasn’t been proven and the father has either never acknowledged his paternity or actively abandoned the child in the past. Sole custody will be awarded to a father if the mother abandoned the child and the father has been the sole caregiver and provider since.
To count as “abandonment,” a father or mother must have failed to provide any personal or financial support or refused to have any relationship with the child for at least six continuous months.
2. Factors for Discovering Best Interests
The court has 12 factors that it’s required by law to consider, and it’s up to the judge to decide how much weight to give each factor. These are:
- What the child wants (if the child is old enough and mature enough)
- Whether either parent, if they have primary custody, is likely to interfere with the relationship between the child and the other parent
- The relationship of the parents
- How able the parents are to cooperate when it comes to the child
- Each parent’s mental and physical health
- Whether living with a certain parent will allow the child to continue a relationship with a sibling
- Any history of parental abuse or neglect
- The relationship the child already has with each parent
- The child’s needs (emotional, physical, and developmental)
- Any domestic violence against the child or anyone else
- Whether either parent has ever attempted to abduct the child (or any other child)
- Whether either parent has nominated someone as guardian for the child (such as in a will)
Your Reno Family Law Attorney
Talk to us today at the Barber Law Group in Reno for help with your child custody case. We’re Northern Nevada’s boutique family law firm, and we fight hard for the rights of parents in Washoe County.
Connect with us
