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

(a) In addition to other factors that a circuit 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. (c) There shall be a rebuttable presumption that it is not in the best interest of the child to be placed in the custody of an abusive parent in cases in which there is a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that a pattern of abuse has occurred.

Legislative History

Acts 1999, No. 1551, § 8; 2001, No. 1235, § 2