§ 14-09-29 — Parental rights and responsibilities - Best interests and welfare of child

North Dakota § 14-09-29

• Jurisdiction: North Dakota
• Title 14: Domestic Relations and Persons
• Ch. 14-09: Parent and Child

Text

1. A court issuing an order that deals with parenting rights and responsibilities of a child
entered under this chapter shall award the parental rights and responsibilities
concerning the child to a person, agency, organization, or institution as will, in the
opinion of the court, promote the best interests and welfare of the child. Between the
mother and father, whether married or unmarried, there is no presumption as to whom
will better promote the best interests and welfare of the child.
2. If the court finds that a parent has perpetrated domestic violence and that parent does
not have residential responsibility, and there exists one incident of domestic violence
which resulted in serious bodily injury or involved the use of a dangerous weapon or
there exists a pattern of domestic violence within a reasonable time proximate to the
proceeding, the court shall allow only supervised parenting time with that parent
unless there is a showing by clear and convincing evidence that unsupervised
parenting time would not endanger the child's physical or emotional health.
3. If any court finds that a parent has sexually abused the parent's child, the court shall
prohibit contact between the abusive parent and the child until the court finds that the
abusive parent has successfully completed a treatment program designed for such
sexual abusers and that supervised parenting time is in the child's best interests.
Contact between the abusive parent and the child may be allowed only in a
therapeutic setting, facilitated by a therapist as part of a sexual abuse treatment
program, and only when the therapist for the abusive parent and the therapist for the
abused child agree that contact serves a therapeutic purpose and is in the best
interests of the child.
4. In any proceeding dealing with parental rights and responsibilities in which a parent is
found to have perpetrated domestic violence, and there exists one incident of domestic
violence which resulted in serious bodily injury or involved the use of a dangerous
weapon or there exists a pattern of domestic violence within a reasonable time
proximate to the proceeding, all court costs, attorney's fees, evaluation fees, and
expert witness fees must be paid by the perpetrator of the domestic violence unless
those costs would place an undue financial hardship on that parent.