Arkansas Law

§ 9-15-215. Factors in determining custody and visitation.

(a) In addition to other factors that a court shall consider in a proceeding in which the temporary custody of a child or temporary visitation by a parent is at issue and in which the court has made a finding of domestic or family violence, the court shall consider:

          (1) As primary the safety and well-being of the child and of the parent who is the plaintiff of domestic or family violence; and

          (2) The defendant's history of causing physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or causing reasonable fear of physical harm, bodily injury, or assault to another person.

(b) If a parent is absent or relocates because of an act of domestic or family violence by the other parent, the absence or relocation is not a factor that weighs against the parent in determining custody or visitation.

History. Acts 1999, No. 1551, § 8.