Child Custody & Visitation

Custody and visitation issues may arise when a divorce involves minor children. Arkansas law assumes the divorcing parties are the parents of a child if a child is born during the marriage. However, paternity may be determined during a divorce if: a child was born prior to the marriage; or either party says the husband is not the father of the child. 

When a child is born to an unmarried woman, the mother of the child has legal custody of that child automatically. However, if the child was born outside of marriage, paternity must be proven before the court will enter an order to obtain child support.

This section contains links that offer information about child custody and visitation law in Arkansas. There are pdf fact sheets, pdf forms and interactive forms to help you better understand family law in Arkansas. 

FACT SHEETS & LEGAL INFORMATION
This resource offers information about child custody and visitation issues.

• Fact Sheet - Child Custody & Visitation
• Fact Sheet - Contempt
• Fact Sheet - Custodia y Visitacion (Spanish)
• Fact Sheet - Grandparent Visitation
• Fact Sheet - Derecho de Visita Para Los Abuelos (Spanish)
• Parent Wars to Co-Parenting (An Arkansas Bar Association publication)

FORMS & COURT INFORMATION

• Form - Affidavit of Financial Means
• Form - Confidential Information Sheet (Court Cover Sheet)
• Form - Confidential Information Sheet (Instructions) (Court Cover Sheet)
• Form - Domestic Relations Cover Sheet and Instructions (Court Cover Sheet)
• Interactive Form Packet - Contempt
  This resource creates a form packet personalized with your information.  It includes a demand letter, motion for contempt, and an order to show cause for use in cases where the opposing party is not following a court order.  
• Sample Form Packet - Contempt This packet includes a Sample Demand Letter, Motion for Contempt, and an Order to Show Cause for use in cases where the opposing party is not following a Court Order)
• Sample Form Packet - Service by Publication (Warning Order) This sample form packet provides information about getting service (notice of a lawsuit) to your spouse if you do not know where your spouse is or if your spouse will not accept service by mail.  

OTHER RESOURCES (Other Websites)
Check these websites for other potentially helpful information. These websites are maintained by other organizations:

• Website - Stateside Legal. For military members, veterans and their families.

These fact sheets are Adobe Acrobat PDF files. You may need to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view them.

Disclaimer 
We are providing this information as a public service. We try to make it accurate. Sometimes the laws change. We cannot promise that the information is always up-to-date and correct. We do not intend this information to be legal advice. We do not intend it as advertising or solicitation. By providing this information, we are not acting as your lawyer. Always talk to a competent lawyer, if you can, before taking legal action.

Some of the items listed here have not been prepared by us, but rather are links to information prepared and posted by others. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of information posted on these sites.