Child custody

The law broadens the circumstances in which a sexual-assault perpetrator can be denied custody, visitation, or legal parent status. It directs courts to weigh assault-related conception in assessing a child’s best interests.

What the law does ​

• Requires courts to consider abuse that resulted in the child’s conception when deciding custody.
• Bars custody or visitation for a person convicted of sexual assault when the child was conceived through the assault or born within 300 days after an assault capable of causing conception.
• Creates a rebuttable presumption against custody when clear and convincing evidence shows a custody seeker committed sexual assault resulting in conception.
• Prevents a father from being presumed the child’s natural parent after a qualifying sexual assault, unless the parents later voluntarily shared child-rearing responsibilities.
• Allows parentage to be challenged at any time and allows termination-of-parental-rights proceedings based on qualifying sexual assault.

Who it affects ​

• Children conceived through sexual assault.
• Survivors of sexual assault who are the children’s mothers.
• Fathers accused or convicted of qualifying sexual assault who seek custody, visitation, or parent status.

Context ​

The law uses a clear-and-convincing-evidence standard for specified court findings when there is no conviction.