Parental Rights and Responsibilities in Maine: Orders and Changes

Parental rights and responsibilities in Maine are decided under Title 19-A of the Maine Revised Statutes, which directs courts to allocate where a child lives and who makes major decisions based on the best interest of the child. The court can give one parent primary responsibility, split responsibilities between the parents, or mix the two depending on the family. Nothing is presumed in either parent’s favor at the start.

Physical Responsibility and Legal Responsibility Are Two Different Things

Maine splits parental responsibilities into two categories, and a court can award each one differently. Parents often assume “custody” is a single decision. It isn’t.

Physical responsibility covers where the child lives day to day. A court can award it primarily to one parent or share it between both. Shared physical responsibility means the child moves between two homes on a regular schedule, which only works when parents can coordinate and communicate reliably. When one parent holds primary physical responsibility, the other receives a contact schedule, sometimes called visitation, and the court can attach conditions such as supervision or no overnights if the child’s safety is a concern.

Legal responsibility is about the big decisions: education, healthcare, and religious upbringing. Shared legal responsibility means neither parent can unilaterally enroll the child in a new school or authorize a major medical procedure without consulting the other. Sole legal responsibility gives one parent that authority alone. Courts tend to award shared legal responsibility when parents can communicate at a functional level, and sole legal responsibility when conflict or abuse makes joint decision-making impractical.¹

The pieces are separable. One parent might have primary physical responsibility while both share legal responsibility. One parent might have sole authority over healthcare while both share authority over schooling. What the order looks like depends on the family’s circumstances and the best-interest analysis.

What the Court Weighs

Section 1653 lays out the factors a judge works through:

The child’s age and any meaningful preference the child can express
Existing relationships between the child and each parent, and with other people important to the child
Stability and continuity of the child’s current living situation, school, and community
Each parent’s ability to provide love, affection, and guidance
Each parent’s willingness to support the other parent’s relationship with the child, including encouraging frequent contact and physical access
Cooperation between the parents, or each parent’s willingness to learn to cooperate
Domestic violence between the parents, whether past or current, and how it affects the child’s safety and emotional well-being
Any history of child abuse by either parent
Any other factor reasonably bearing on the child’s physical and psychological welfare

The child’s safety is the primary consideration. A parent with a documented history of domestic violence or child abuse faces a steep uphill battle, because the statute requires the judge to evaluate every other factor through the lens of that abuse.¹

p>The “willingness to support the other parent’s relationship” factor catches parents off guard. A parent who badmouths the other, blocks phone calls, or invents reasons to cancel scheduled contact is telling the court they cannot prioritize the child’s need for both parents. Judges notice, and it can shift the outcome.

Child Support Comes With the Order

A parental rights and responsibilities order almost always includes a child support obligation. Maine calculates support under the guidelines in Title 19-A, Chapter 63, using an income-shares model that estimates what the parents would have spent on the child if the family had stayed together. Both incomes feed into the calculation, and the amount adjusts for the parenting schedule, healthcare costs, and childcare.

Support orders include a provision for the child’s health insurance. Federal law requires every state to address medical support in child support cases, so the court assigns one or both parents the duty to maintain coverage. If a parent’s employer offers family health coverage and a court order requires enrollment, the employer must allow it regardless of open-enrollment periods.²

When support is not paid voluntarily, Maine can enforce the order through income withholding. Payment comes directly out of the paying parent’s wages, and employers must process these withholding orders ahead of most other garnishments.³

Mediation, Parent Education, and Guardians Ad Litem

Mediation

Maine courts can refer parents to mediation before a contested hearing. A neutral third party helps the parents work through disagreements about schedules and decision-making without a judge deciding for them. An agreement reached in mediation goes to the court for approval and becomes part of the official order. Mediation is faster, cheaper, and less damaging to the co-parenting relationship than a trial. If it doesn’t produce an agreement, the case moves to a hearing.

Mediation isn’t right for every case. When domestic violence is present, the power imbalance can make negotiation unfair or unsafe, and courts weigh that before ordering it.

Parent Education

Courts may require both parents to complete a parent education program. The classes cover how separation and divorce affect children, how to talk with children about the changes, and strategies for co-parenting across two households.⁴ If the court orders you to attend, treat it as a requirement to finish before your case closes.

Guardian Ad Litem

When the court has particular concern about a child’s welfare, it can appoint a guardian ad litem, an independent person (often an attorney) whose job is to investigate and recommend what serves the child’s best interest. The guardian ad litem interviews the parents, visits homes, talks to teachers or counselors, and reports directly to the judge.⁵

Either parent can request one, or the court can appoint one on its own. The cost is split between the parents, with the court deciding the proportion based on each parent’s income, assets, and who asked for the appointment. Fees add up, so a guardian ad litem is most useful in cases involving allegations of abuse, substance use, or other serious safety concerns where the court needs eyes on the ground.

Changing an Order After It’s Entered

Under Title 19-A, Section 1657, either parent can petition to modify an existing order, but you have to show a substantial change in circumstances since the order was issued. The court will not reopen an order because one parent is unhappy with it.⁶

The statute identifies two situations that count as a substantial change on their face:

Relocation. A parent moving the child out of state, or any move that disrupts the existing contact schedule. A move of more than 60 miles from either parent’s residence is presumed disruptive.
Domestic violence. A finding by the court that domestic or family violence has occurred since the last order was entered.

Other changes can also qualify: a new work schedule, a child’s evolving needs as they age, a parent developing a substance abuse problem. The parent filing the motion has to prove the change is significant enough to warrant reopening the case. Once the court agrees to reconsider, it applies the same best-interest factors used in the original proceeding.⁶

When the Other Parent Won’t Follow the Order

A court order is only as useful as the parents’ willingness to follow it. If one parent refuses to return the child on time, blocks scheduled contact, or ignores decision-making requirements, the other can file a motion asking the court to hold them in contempt.

If the court finds a violation, Section 1653 gives it three main remedies:

Additional or more specific terms. The court can tighten the order’s language to close loopholes the violating parent exploited.
Make-up contact. The court can order extra time with the child to compensate for wrongfully denied visits.
Financial penalty. The court can impose a forfeiture of at least $100 per violation.

Every parental rights order in Maine must include notice that violations can result in contempt and these sanctions.¹

Document everything if you’re dealing with a non-compliant parent. Save text messages, keep a log of missed pickups and late returns with dates and times, and note any witnesses. Judges want specifics, not general complaints that the other parent is difficult.

Moving With a Child

Relocation is one of the most contested issues in Maine family law, and the rules are strict. If you have shared parental rights and responsibilities, or if parental rights have been specifically divided between you and the other parent, you must give the other parent at least 30 days’ written notice before relocating the child. If the move must happen in less than 30 days, you have to notify the other parent as soon as possible.¹

Receiving that notice is itself a substantial change in circumstances under Section 1657, so the non-relocating parent can immediately petition to modify the existing order. A move of more than 60 miles from either parent’s home is presumed to disrupt the child’s contact with the non-relocating parent, which puts the burden on the relocating parent to show why the move serves the child’s best interest.⁶

The court weighs the reason for the move, the impact on the child’s relationship with the non-relocating parent, and whether the schedule can be restructured to preserve meaningful contact. Relocating without proper notice or court approval is one of the fastest ways to lose credibility with a judge and potentially lose primary physical responsibility.

When Parents Live in Different States

When parents live in different states, which state’s court has authority over custody is governed by Maine’s adoption of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. The core rule is home-state jurisdiction: the state where the child lived with a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the case was filed has priority. For a child younger than six months, the home state is wherever the child has lived since birth.⁷

If Maine is the child’s home state, Maine courts handle the case even if one parent has since moved, as long as the other parent still lives here. If a parent moves to Maine with the child and files for custody before six months have passed, Maine courts generally lack jurisdiction and must defer to the previous home state. The rules exist to stop parents from forum-shopping by relocating to a state they think will be friendlier.

Emergency jurisdiction is the exception. If a child is present in Maine and has been abandoned or needs emergency protection from abuse, a Maine court can act temporarily even without home-state status.

1
Maine State Legislature. 19-A Maine Revised Statutes 1653 – Parental Rights and Responsibilities
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 1396g-1 – Required Laws Relating to Medical Child Support
3
The Administration for Children and Families. Income Withholding
4
Maine Judicial Branch. Parent Education Programs
5
Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 4, Chapter 32, Section 1555 – Appointment of Guardians Ad Litem
6
Maine State Legislature. 19-A Maine Revised Statutes 1657 – Modification or Termination of Orders
7
Maine State Legislature. Title 19-A, 1745 – Initial Child Custody Jurisdiction