Custody

The judge will consider the following factors when deciding if visitation is in the best interest of the child:

1. the relationship between the child and the parent or person acting as a parent;
2. the relationship between the child and the non-parent who is asking for visitation;
3. past or present behavior by any party in the case or someone the party lives with who could pose a risk to the child;
4. the likely effect that non-parent visitation would have on the relationship between the child and the parent or person acting as a parent;
5. the factors listed in How will a judge make a decision about legal custody, residency, and parenting time?; and
6. anything else that would affect the child’s best interest.¹ 

The judge may also consider the child’s opinion about the non-parental visitation after taking into account the age and maturity of the child.²

However, if the non-parent or anyone living with the non-parent has committed any of the following crimes, the judge will assume visitation is not in the best interest of the child:

• abuse of a child;
• abandonment or aggravated abandonment of a child;
• domestic violence;
• a sex offense; or
• stalking.³

This also applies if the non-parent or anyone living with the non-parent has been required to register as a sex offender, either in Kansas or another state.³

The non-parent could still try to prove that, despite committing a crime or being a registered sex offender, visitation would not endanger the health, safety, or welfare of the child and that it would be in the child’s best interest. However, it might be hard to convince the judge of this.⁴

Note: There is a “rebuttable presumption” that the parent or person acting as a parent will make a decision that is in the best interest of the child if a non-parent asks for visitation. So, the judge will assume that parent have the right to deny non-parent visitation, and the non-parent has the burden of proving why it would be in the best interest of the child for the non-parent to have visitation anyway.⁵

¹ Kan. Stat. § 23-3315(a)
² Kan. Stat. § 23-3315(b)
³ Kan. Stat. § 23-3316(a)
⁴ Kan. Stat. § 23-3316(c)
⁵ Kan. Stat. § 23-3309