16.2 Custody, Visitation & Child Support

The PCCE tests custody and child support as two related but independent tracks. Domain 2 asks who makes decisions, where the child lives, which state may decide those questions, and how the dollar amount of support is set and collected. Parenting time is not a self-help collection tool, and unpaid support is not a license to withhold the child.

This remains federal-and-general teaching. Best-interests factors, relocation mileage, and guideline tables are state law. Name the uniform acts and the two guideline models. Do not recite one state's percentage chart as national law.

Legal custody, physical custody, joint, and sole

Legal custody is major decision-making: school, medical care, religion, and comparable life decisions. Physical custody (modern orders say parenting time or primary residence) is where the child lives day to day and the calendar of overnights.

Each label can be joint or sole:

• Joint legal custody means both fit parents share major decisions. It is the common modern default when both parents are fit.
• Sole legal custody means one parent decides; the other parent may still have access to records.
• Joint physical custody means substantial time with both parents. It is not automatically a 50/50 overnight split.
• Sole physical custody means a primary residence with one parent and parenting time for the other.

Do not mash the words into one blob. A stem can give joint legal custody and sole physical custody in the same family. "Visitation" is the older word for the non-residential parent's parenting time. Supervised parenting time is used when safety requires a monitor.

Denial of parenting time is not a defense to child support, and unpaid support is not a defense to parenting time. Each obligation has its own motion practice.

Best interests and parenting plans

Courts decide parenting issues under the best interests of the child, not a parental property right. Common factors (Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act pattern and state lists; statutes vary):

1. The child's wishes, if the child is mature enough to express them.
2. Each parent's wishes.
3. Interaction with parents, siblings, and other significant people.
4. The child's adjustment to home, school, and community.
5. Mental and physical health of everyone involved.
6. History of domestic violence, child abuse, or substance abuse.
7. Each parent's willingness to facilitate the child's relationship with the other parent (the "friendly parent" factor).
8. Sometimes who has been the primary caretaker.

The old tender-years doctrine (young children automatically to the mother) is largely abandoned. The modern rule is gender-neutral best interests.

A parenting plan writes the schedule and the decision rules: regular weeks, holidays, transportation, communication, extracurriculars, and often a first-step dispute process (mediation before a motion). Many courts require each parent to file a proposed plan. Paralegals build plans from school calendars, work shifts, and exchange locations — they do not tell the client which overnight split "wins."

Relocation. A parent who wants to move the child a significant distance typically must give notice and may need court permission if the other parent objects. The court re-applies best interests: reasons for the move, effect on parenting time, the child's ties, and whether a new schedule can preserve the relationship. There is no single national mileage number. A self-help move that ignores an existing order is a jurisdiction and contempt problem, not a completed relocation.

UCCJEA: which state decides custody

The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) — in force in nearly every U.S. jurisdiction — decides which state may issue or modify a custody or visitation order. It is a jurisdiction statute, not a merits statute. It does not tell the court who is the better parent.

Home-state jurisdiction has priority. The child's home state is where the child lived with a parent (or a person acting as a parent) for at least six consecutive months immediately before the proceeding — or since birth if the child is younger than six months. Temporary absences do not reset the clock.

If there is no home state, or the home state declines, narrower bases can apply: significant connection plus substantial evidence in the forum; a more appropriate forum / vacuum when no other state qualifies; and temporary emergency jurisdiction when the child is present and abandoned or at risk of abuse. An emergency court often communicates with the home-state court rather than issuing a permanent competing decree.

Continuing exclusive jurisdiction. The state that issued a valid initial order generally keeps modification power while the child or a parent remains there, unless that court declines. A second state enforces a valid UCCJEA order; it does not freely modify it.

The federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA) similarly requires states to give full faith and credit to sister-state custody orders that had proper jurisdiction. Paralegals gather school and medical records that prove the six-month residence and complete the child's residence-history affidavit (often five years). Do not file a competing custody case in a non-home state unless the attorney has a UCCJEA theory (emergency, vacuum, or a declination).

UIFSA: support across state lines

The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) governs child support (and some spousal support) when people and orders cross state lines. It creates a one-order world. The state that issued a valid support order generally keeps continuing exclusive jurisdiction (CEJ) to modify that order while the obligor, the obligee, or the child still resides there. Another state registers and enforces (income withholding, contempt, tax intercept) but does not stack a second modifying order.

The federal Full Faith and Credit for Child Support Orders Act (FFCCSOA) backs the same one-order idea.

Do not confuse the two uniform acts. UCCJEA = custody and visitation jurisdiction. UIFSA = support dollars. A family can have parenting litigated in State A and support enforced through a UIFSA registration in State B, where the obligor works.

Child-support guidelines

Federal law (Title IV-D / 42 U.S.C.) requires every state to have numeric child-support guidelines and a rebuttable presumption that the guideline amount is the correct amount. The formulas themselves are state law. Two principal models appear on exams:

1. Income-shares (the majority model): estimate what both parents would have spent on the child in an intact household, then prorate that amount by each parent's share of combined income.
2. Percentage-of-income (a minority model): apply a percentage to the obligor's income, sometimes varying with the number of children. A few states use a hybrid or Melson-formula variant.

Do not memorize one state's table as national. If the stem gives a chart, apply the chart. If the question asks for the model names, the answer is income-shares versus percentage-of-income.

Add-ons commonly include health-insurance premiums, uninsured medical expenses, and work-related childcare. Extraordinary education or long-distance travel may be added. Add-ons are often split in proportion to income. Courts impute income to a parent who is voluntarily underemployed or unemployed without good cause.

Duration. Support typically runs to majority (often 18) or high-school graduation; some states extend for a short period after 18 or address post-secondary costs. Emancipation (marriage, military service, lasting self-support) can end it. Child support cannot be waived in a prenup or a settlement the way property can be waived. Parents may agree on a number, but the court measures it against the guidelines and the child's needs.

Worked path (conceptual, not a state table). Parent A earns 60% of combined income and Parent B earns 40%. In an income-shares state the court finds a basic obligation and assigns 60% to A and 40% to B, then adds health insurance and daycare. In a percentage-of-income state the court would apply that state's percentage to the obligor's income. The PCCE will not require you to invent the percentage.

Modification and enforcement

Modification requires a material / substantial change in circumstances: a real income swing, a custody change, a new legally supported child, emancipation of a child, or a similar shift. Some states use a percentage threshold (often discussed in the 10–15% range). That threshold is state-specific — do not treat 15% as federal law. Modification is generally prospective. Do not self-adjust and create unofficial arrears math.

Enforcement tools:

• Income withholding — the default. The employer sends support from wages (a federal mandate for IV-D cases and most orders).
• Contempt — willful nonpayment can mean fines or jail. Ability to pay is a due-process issue (Turner v. Rogers conceptually: a court should not jail an unrepresented obligor without inquiring into ability to pay and some form of procedural safeguard).
• License suspension, tax-refund intercept, passport denial, liens, credit reporting, and interception of unemployment.
• Criminal nonsupport in some jurisdictions.

Exam tell: the parent who stopped paying because visits were missed still owes support; the parent who blocked visits because a check bounced still violated the parenting order. File two motions if needed. Do not advise self-help.

Paralegal tasks

Complete the financial affidavit or child-support worksheet in the forum state's software or form set. Collect paystubs, tax returns, insurance cards, and childcare invoices. For interstate files, assemble the UIFSA transmittal and the UCCJEA residence affidavit. Calendar guideline-review dates and withholding start dates. Do not tell a client that a handshake change of the dollar amount is effective.