Time-sharing guidelines

2007finalizedtimesharingguidelines

I was recently asked by a reader about what kind of time-sharing he can expect with his daughter. He and the mother never married and he believes the mother is exerting excess control over his contact. I am uploading the Fayette County time-share guidelines as an example of typical time-sharing. If you open it and go to the end, you will see enhanced time-share for children under two years of age. This is a tiny step towards developmentally sensitive time-sharing. I am a proponent of developmental time-sharing and I hope to see these standard guidelines continue to move in that direction.

It is interesting to note, KRS 405.020 assigns joint custody to parents of a child as the default. A father of a child born out of wedlock starts out with joint custody as a matter of law. Mother’s tend to assume they have sole custody straight from the chute since they effectively have it during the pregnancy. In reality, the father gains custody at the moment of birth. As a practical matter, though, he must be able to show he is the father. This is either by birth certificate naming him as the father or a judgment.