To get custody of a child in Arkansas, you file a petition in the circuit court of the county where the child lives, have the other parent formally served, and then persuade the judge that the arrangement you’re asking for is in the child’s best interest. In divorce and paternity cases, Arkansas law starts with a rebuttable presumption that joint custody serves the child’s best interest, so the practical question is usually not whether you’ll share custody but on what terms.1Justia. Arkansas Code 9-13-101 – Award of Custody – Definition The steps below walk through what to do before filing, what to file, and what happens after.
Before You File: Do You Have Standing to Ask?
If you were married to the other parent, you can seek custody as part of a divorce or as a standalone custody case in circuit court. If you were not married, the situation is different. In Arkansas, when a child is born to unmarried parents, the mother has legal custody by default. An unmarried father has no automatic right to custody or even visitation until paternity is legally established, either through a voluntary acknowledgment or a court order. That means an unmarried father must file a paternity action first, then seek custody in that same case or in a separate proceeding. Skipping the paternity step is one of the most common reasons unmarried fathers lose time in the courts.
Once paternity is on record, the same joint custody presumption and the same best-interest analysis apply regardless of sex.1Justia. Arkansas Code 9-13-101 – Award of Custody – Definition
One boundary to check before you file: the child usually has to have lived in Arkansas with a parent for at least six consecutive months before the case, or since birth if the child is under six months, for Arkansas to be the proper state. That is the “home state” rule under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act.2Justia. Arkansas Code 9-19-201 – Initial Child-Custody Jurisdiction Filing in the wrong state ends with a dismissal.
What You Are Actually Asking the Court to Order
Arkansas splits custody into two things, and your petition should be specific about both. Legal custody is the right to make major decisions about the child’s education, medical care, and religious upbringing. Physical custody is where the child lives day to day. Each can be awarded as sole (one parent) or joint (both parents share).
The joint custody presumption applies to both categories in divorce and paternity cases. A judge can override it only in defined situations: clear and convincing evidence that joint custody would not serve the child, an agreement between the parents for a different arrangement, one parent not asking for custody, or a statutory presumption against a parent based on domestic abuse or a sex offense.1Justia. Arkansas Code 9-13-101 – Award of Custody – Definition Joint custody does not automatically mean a 50/50 schedule. Judges have wide discretion to set the actual parenting time.
Paperwork, Fees, and Where to File
You file in the circuit clerk’s office in the county where the child lives. Before you go, gather the full legal names, dates of birth, and current addresses for both parents and every child in the case, along with details about the child’s current living situation and any informal parenting arrangements already in place.
Three documents typically start the case:
- Complaint for Custody, the pleading that identifies the parties and states exactly what custody arrangement you want the court to order. You or your attorney drafts this.
- Domestic Relations Cover Sheet, a standardized form that classifies the case type.
- Confidential Information Sheet, which holds sensitive data like Social Security numbers and stays out of the public record.
Forms are available at the circuit clerk’s office, and some can be downloaded from the Arkansas Judiciary’s website. Check every field. Typos in names, dates, or addresses can push your first hearing back by weeks.
The filing fee for a custody or visitation case in Arkansas circuit court is $165.3Pulaski County Circuit Clerk. Court Filings Fee Schedule If you cannot afford it, file an In Forma Pauperis affidavit asking the court to waive the fee based on financial hardship.
Serving the Other Parent
After you file, the court issues a summons. The other parent then has to be formally served with the summons and your complaint. A process server or sheriff delivers the documents in person. You cannot hand them over yourself. Private process servers typically charge between $45 and $95. Once served, the other parent has 30 days to file an answer with the court.
How the other parent responds shapes what happens next. An answer that agrees with most of what you’ve asked for opens the door to a quick agreed order. An answer that contests custody sets up a longer process.
Mediation and Parenting Classes
In divorce cases involving minor children, the court may require both parents to complete at least two hours of classes on parenting issues that arise after divorce, or it can order the parents into mediation to try to resolve custody and visitation before trial. Each parent pays for their own class or mediation costs.4Justia. Arkansas Code 9-12-322 – Divorcing Parents to Attend Parenting Class
The Arkansas Access and Visitation Mediation Program offers free mediation for up to five hours of session time. You do not have to be court-ordered to use it; parents can enter voluntarily. Most cases finish inside the five-hour cap, and any time beyond that becomes the parents’ responsibility.5AR Access & Visitation Mediation Program. FAQ – AR Access and Visitation Mediation Program If mediation produces an agreement, the judge reviews it and can adopt it as a court order. If it doesn’t, the case moves toward a hearing.
The Hearing and How the Judge Decides
Every Arkansas custody decision turns on one question: what arrangement best serves the child’s welfare. There is no rigid statutory checklist. In practice, judges weigh each parent’s relationship with the child, each parent’s ability to provide a stable home, each parent’s willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other parent, and the stability of the child’s current school and social environment.1Justia. Arkansas Code 9-13-101 – Award of Custody – Definition
If the child is old enough and mature enough to form a reasonable preference, the judge may consider it, though it is never the sole factor. Arkansas does not set an age cutoff; the judge evaluates each child’s reasoning individually.1Justia. Arkansas Code 9-13-101 – Award of Custody – Definition
At the hearing itself, both parents present evidence. That can include testimony from each parent, witnesses who know the family, school records, medical records, and a recommendation from an attorney ad litem if one was appointed. In contested cases, the judge can appoint a private attorney to represent the child’s interests; that attorney typically visits both homes, interviews both parents and the child, reviews records, and makes a recommendation.6Justia. Arkansas Code 9-13-106 – Attorney Ad Litem Programs Professional evaluations and home studies can run from roughly $900 to $5,000 depending on complexity. Straightforward hearings may take an hour or two. Heavily contested cases can stretch across multiple days.
Abuse and Sex Offender Presumptions
Two statutory presumptions can override the joint custody preference. If a parent has engaged in a pattern of domestic abuse proven by a preponderance of the evidence, the court presumes that placing the child with that parent is not in the child’s best interest. Even without a proven pattern, the court must consider the effect of any proven act of domestic violence on the child’s best interest, regardless of whether the child was physically hurt or personally witnessed it.1Justia. Arkansas Code 9-13-101 – Award of Custody – Definition
A stronger rule applies to registered sex offenders. The court cannot award custody or unsupervised visitation to a registered sex offender unless the judge makes a specific finding that the offender poses no danger to the child, and a rebuttable presumption blocks placement in any home where a registered sex offender lives.1Justia. Arkansas Code 9-13-101 – Award of Custody – Definition
Do You Need a Lawyer?
Hiring a family law attorney is not required, but custody hearings run on rules of evidence, cross-examination, and legal standards that are hard to handle alone. Attorney fees in Arkansas family law cases typically range from about $160 to $500 per hour depending on the attorney’s experience and the case’s complexity.
After the Order: Changes, Moves, and Taxes
Custody orders are not permanent. Either parent can ask the court to modify an existing order, but the requesting parent has to show a material change in circumstances that affects the child’s welfare. A new job, a move, substance abuse, or a significant shift in the child’s needs can qualify. Minor or temporary disruptions do not. Arkansas also singles out one specific behavior as a potential material change: if a parent consistently creates conflict to sabotage a joint custody arrangement, the court can shift primary custody to the other parent.1Justia. Arkansas Code 9-13-101 – Award of Custody – Definition Even with a material change proven, the modification still has to be in the child’s best interest.
Relocation is one of the sharpest fights. Under Arkansas case law, a parent with primary physical custody benefits from a rebuttable presumption that a move is in the child’s best interest, and the non-moving parent has to prove the relocation would harm the child. That presumption disappears when parents share joint physical custody. In a joint custody case, the parent who wants to move has to affirmatively show the court that the relocation serves the child’s best interest, and a significant disruption to the other parent’s time can itself count as a material change.
Custody also affects who claims the child on federal taxes. The IRS default is that the custodial parent claims the child, and the custodial parent is whichever parent the child spent more nights with during the tax year. If the nights split evenly, the parent with the higher adjusted gross income is treated as custodial. The custodial parent can release the right to claim the child to the other parent by signing IRS Form 8332. The release transfers the child tax credit and the credit for other dependents, but it does not transfer the earned income credit, the child and dependent care credit, or head-of-household filing status. Those stay with the custodial parent.7IRS. Publication 504 – Divorced or Separated Individuals A divorce decree alone will not shift the dependency claim; the IRS wants Form 8332 or a written statement containing the same information. Settle this in the custody agreement upfront and you avoid an annual fight every April.