Step-by-Step: How Unmarried Fathers Can Establish Legal Custody and Visitation Rights

You may be an active part of your child's life—providing support, attending school events, and spending regular time together—yet still worry about what could happen if you and the child's mother disagree about custody or parenting time.

In Kentucky, an unmarried father may need to establish legal paternity, seek a custody or parenting-time order, and show that the proposed arrangement serves the child's best interests.

At Caleb Bland Law, PLLC, we help unmarried fathers address paternity, custody, and parenting-time matters while keeping their children's needs at the center of the process. From our office in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, we serve clients in Radcliff, Shepherdsville, Bardstown, Brandenburg, Leitchfield, Hodgenville, Louisville, and communities throughout Hardin, Nelson, LaRue, Hart, Meade, Grayson, Breckinridge, Bullitt, and Jefferson counties. Reach out to us to discuss the steps that may apply to your situation.

Step One: Establish Legal Paternity

If your legal paternity has not yet been established, resolving it provides a legal basis to pursue child custody and parenting time. Paternity and custody are separate legal issues, so being your child's biological father does not necessarily mean that every legal issue concerning custody or parenting time has already been resolved.

Kentucky provides more than one way to establish paternity. If paternity is undisputed, an unchallenged acknowledgment of paternity can establish the legal relationship without a separate judicial or administrative proceeding. When paternity is contested, Kentucky law provides procedures for genetic testing and a court determination.

Once paternity is legally established, you can pursue custody or parenting time through the court when a formal order is needed. Establishing paternity can also affect other parental rights and responsibilities, including child support.

If you are uncertain whether your paternity has been legally established, we can review your circumstances and help you determine what needs to happen before you proceed with a custody request.

Step Two: Ask the Court for Custody and Parenting Time

After paternity is established, you can ask the court to enter an order defining custody and parenting time. A court order provides enforceable terms for issues such as when your child will be with each parent and how important parenting decisions will be handled.

If you and the other parent agree, you may be able to present agreed terms to the court for consideration. If you disagree, the court can decide custody and parenting time under Kentucky law.

When developing a proposed parenting arrangement, consider:

• Your parenting history: Document your involvement in your child's daily care, education, activities, appointments, and routines.

• Your proposed schedule: Consider a schedule that accounts for school, activities, holidays, and your child's regular routine.

• Decision-making: Think about how important decisions involving education, health care, and other needs can be addressed.

• Communication: Consider practical ways for you and the other parent to exchange information concerning your child.

• Transportation: Plan how exchanges, school transportation, and other travel will work.

• Your child's individual needs: Account for age, health, education, activities, and other circumstances that may affect the parenting schedule.

Your proposed arrangement should focus on your child's needs rather than simply maximizing the amount of time you receive. We can help you develop a parenting proposal and pursue an appropriate custody or parenting-time order.

Step Three: Show How Your Plan Serves Your Child's Best Interests

If you and the other parent cannot agree, the court determines custody according to the child's best interests. Under Kentucky's custody laws, there is a rebuttable presumption that joint custody and equally shared parenting time are in the child's best interests, subject to applicable statutory exceptions.

The court must consider relevant circumstances rather than deciding custody based simply on whether the parents were married. Factors can include:

• Family relationships: The court may consider your child's relationships with each parent, siblings, and other people who significantly affect the child's best interests.

• Home, school, and community: Your child's adjustment and continuing proximity to these parts of daily life can be relevant.

• The parents' wishes: The court considers each parent's request regarding custody.

• The child's wishes: Depending on the circumstances, the child's wishes may be considered, along with any influence a parent may have had on those wishes.

• Health and well-being: The mental and physical health of the people involved can be relevant.

• Domestic violence or abuse: Evidence of domestic violence and abuse can significantly affect the custody analysis and the application of Kentucky's joint-custody presumption.

Your involvement with your child can provide important context, but no single fact determines the outcome. The court evaluates the relevant circumstances under Kentucky law. We can help you present evidence and explain why your proposed arrangement serves your child's best interests.

Step Four: Follow and Modify the Court Order Properly

Once the court enters a custody or parenting-time order, you should follow its terms. The order may address the parenting schedule, holidays, exchanges, transportation, decision-making responsibilities, communication, and other matters involving your child.

Circumstances can change over time. Your work schedule may change, your child may attend a different school, one parent may relocate, or your child's needs may develop as they get older. When an existing order no longer works, the appropriate response may be to seek a modification rather than simply disregard the order or make a substantially different arrangement on your own.

The legal requirements for changing custody and parenting time depend on what you want to modify and the circumstances surrounding the request. At Caleb Bland Law, PLLC, we can review the existing order and help you determine what steps are available.

Protect Your Rights and Your Relationship With Your Child

A formal custody or parenting-time order can provide something an informal arrangement cannot: enforceable terms governing your role in your child's life. It can establish expectations for parenting time, decision-making, exchanges, and other issues that might otherwise become sources of disagreement.

If you are an unmarried father who wants to establish or protect your child custody and parenting-time rights, our family law attorneys can help you determine your next step. Contact us at Caleb Bland Law, PLLC, to schedule a consultation.