What is Kentucky's 50/50 Parenting Time Presumption and How it Could be Changing?

When facing the possibility of romantic and legal separation from your spouse, most people’s minds will naturally go to their children’s future and how they will be affected. The conventional wisdom for years was that courts tended to favor the mother of the children, when all other things were equal.

This is not the case today in Kentucky, and it’s important to find an attorney Lexington KY residents trust to help you through your specific process.

What The Law Used To Be

Prior to 2018, the law in Kentucky when parents or non-married partners were separating with children was to assign custody and visitation (or “timesharing”) pursuant to “the best interests of the child”. Many people took this to mean that the mother became the primary caregiver to the children, with the father merely filling gaps when allowed. Over time, this became the conventional wisdom, regardless of its accuracy. 

This thinking comes from years of the courts across the country embracing what is called the “tender years” doctrine. The idea was that younger children are inherently better cared for by mothers rather than fathers. Over the years, this idea has fallen out of favor. Although the words of the law did not change, the way courts thought about it did. This change was made the official law of the Commonwealth in 2018.

What The Law Is Now

In 2018, after lobbying by “father’s rights” groups, the Kentucky General Assembly became the first state in the country to pass a law requiring courts look at mothers and fathers equally in custody decisions. The law now requires that courts begin all custody decisions with the idea that equal time with each parent is what’s best for children. Twenty-two states have now followed Kentucky’s lead and adopted similar laws. 

There is currently a bill submitted to the Kentucky General Assembly that would repeal this presumption. Developments like this show why it is important to hire a Family Law attorney in Lexington KY who is up-to-date on the law and able to deal with any changes that may arise. 

What This Law Means For You

When planning for a legal divorce from your spouse or separating from your un-married partner, the first thing you will want to consider is how it will affect your children. A family law attorney in Lexington KY can provide guidance on how to financially plan for this change in your life. Where and with whom your children will live is also an important decision. One of the key issues to any family law case at EMWN Law is how custody and timesharing with any minor children will look. 

When pursuing a legal separation in Kentucky, you should take account of what your schedule looks like regarding work, commuting, and other family obligations, as well as all of these considerations for your soon-to-be-ex as well. When your case goes to court, determining who the children will live with at which times is first and foremost a practical question. This is especially true, and can be significantly complicated, if you or your partner work an atypical job schedule. 

Say, for instance, you are a teacher who works from 7am to 3pm, five days per

week, but with ample time off in the summers and winter, while your partner works a late shift as a blue-collar workplace from 3pm to 1am, four days a week. This schedule would need to account for the fact that the children will be in school for most of the times that your partner could care for them, while they will be out of school at all the same times you are. The requirement that courts start from an equal point means that the schedule will be balanced by giving your partner most weekends with the children, while you have them most weekdays. The thinking is that eventually, the time spent with each parent will be roughly equal.

As the above example shows, this schedule will look unique to each couple. However, trends have emerged, and the most common options are usually laid out in the local family court rules for your jurisdiction. For example, the Fayette County, Kentucky, family court rules list six different options for potential schedules. Although the rules do not say this, these common options are not equally applicable to all ages of children. It is common practice, and should be considered when you are planning your separation, for younger children to go between their separated parents more frequently than older children, so their relationship with both is cultivated at a young age.

However, as children grow into teenagers, their exchanges become less frequent as stability becomes more important, and they may have access to other ways to contact the parent they aren’t staying with, such as a cell phone. Finally, as the children reach the last few years before majority, forcing a timesharing schedule upon them becomes less and less appealing to most courts, and children will usually be allowed some say in their schedule, within reason. 

Additionally, the law in Kentucky also includes a presumption of joint custody, which means both parents share decision making authority. Good legal representation will help you determine what decisions are within your power alone and which must be decided between you and your co-parent. This can get incredibly confusing and split-second decisions can lead to long legal battles if you are not adequately informed and have a good family law attorney on your side. 

What all of this means for someone looking to separate from their partner is that, for most people, you will need to consider the possibility of co-parenting with your soon-to-be-ex for up to 18 years. The equal timesharing presumption that is the law in Kentucky essentially requires that the parents interact enough to ensure the child has time with both parents equally. 

However, if co-parenting with someone you no longer wish to be married to isn’t appealing, you can always argue that circumstances warrant overcoming the presumption in the law. This essentially means that, in your specific situation, it is not in the children’s best interest to ensure they have equal time with each parent.

In the law, this is referred to as a “rebuttable presumption”. This is where having a Family Law attorney in Lexington KY can determine whether you spend over a decade fighting with an ex-spouse, or whether you reach a peaceful resolution and successfully co-parent with them. A good Family Law attorney in Lexington KY has seen the cases where this presumption is rebutted, and what the courts will find important. The family law attorneys at EMWN Law will be able to explain what it means for the presumption to be rebuttable by “a preponderance of the evidence”, and what documentation you will need to show this effectively. 

How to Find the Best Family Law Attorney in Lexington KY

Ultimately, the decision of whether to leave your relationship and the process of divorce could take months. But the equal timesharing and joint custody presumption in Kentucky means that it could have effects on your life years down the road as you have to constantly coparent with your ex-partner. 

A good family law attorney in Lexington KY can help you with this. When considering what attorney to go with to work out your timesharing schedule, the attorneys at EMWN Law are ready to help you however we can, whether that be through amicable mediation and negotiation, or through a contested hearing in court.