Your Rights to Child Custody, Visitation, and Support, 4E by: Mary L. Boland, Attorney at Law Adobe PDF Download Child Custody, Visitation, and Support Laws

This download contains a state-by-state summary of the applicable laws relating to custody and child support, as well as a link to online information regarding the state agency to contact for information and assistance. While every effort has been made to provide up-to-date information, laws and websites can change at any time. Refer back to the material in the book for more information about researching the law for your state as needed.

Federal Laws
As with family laws in general, most custody, visitation and child support laws are governed by state laws. However, federal law does require that all fifty states honor the custody orders of any state.

In addition, the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement has taken on a strong role in enforcing local child support orders. Information on the federal office and individual states’ with child support enforcement agency websites can be found at www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse.

To go to the page that will direct you to your state’s agency, go to www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/extinf.html.

State Laws
Every state has a set of statutes that govern family law. Within its family law code or state equivalent code, each state will provide the factors and rules for deciding custody, visitation, and support between parents. Rules for determining parentage and deciding custody and visitation with parties other than the mother and father may not always be found in the family law code, but will be provided for within that state’s statutes. Some states have specific grandparent visitation laws and de facto parenting laws.

Explanation of Terms
For each state, specific information has been provided. The first listing you will find is “The Law.” This directs you to the title of the book where the laws for that state may be found. An abbreviation for the law, which is used in the following sections, is also given. The abbreviation Sec. means section. For some states, information is also given to try to help you find the specific volume or volumes you will need. For example, a direction to “ignore volume numbers” means that the books will give both a volume number and a section or chapter number on the cover. Use the section or chapter number, not the volume number. If the section number is followed by “et seq.," it means that the reference begins there and continues in several following sections in sequence.

The next section, “Custody,” tells you where to look for the general laws pertaining to child custody for your state and gives a summary of what factors are considered.

The last section, “Child Support,” tells you where to look for the general laws pertaining to child support for your state and gives a summary of what factors are considered.