Name: Emma Kazaryan
Model Lesson Plan: Family Law – Child Custody, Visitation & Support
Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes
GOALS
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Students will understand the family law policy considerations underlying child
custody/visitation/support
Students will understand how custody/visitation schedules are determined
Students will understand how child support is calculated
OBJECTIVES
A. Knowledge Objectives: As a result of this class, students will be better able to:
1. Understand federal and state child custody/visitation/support laws
2. Understand the entitlements and obligations that flow from parentage
B. Skills Objectives: As a result of this class, students will be better able to:
1. Spot family law issues
2. Apply child custody/support/visitation laws
C. Attitude Objectives: As a result of this lesson, students will feel:
1. Confident about their understanding of what rights/obligations flow from
parentage
2. Comfortable seeking court intervention if their rights are violated or to hold
their co-parent to their obligations
CLASSROOM METHODS
A.
Introduction to Child Custody/Support/Visitation
1. Icebreaker: the first slide in the PowerPoint (after the title slide) is an
icebreaker exercise. In the first few minutes of class, have students jot
down or think about the icebreaker question: What are some things that
should be considered when determining custody, visitation and child
support arrangements? Encourage students to share their thoughts and
opinions and remind them that it doesn’t have to be a reflection of what
the law actually is. Some examples you might give to get them thinking
are:
Custody: which parent has been taking care of the child more, which
parent is more responsible, which parent is more financially stable,
the parent with the higher level of education (e.g. grad school>
college>high school)
Child support: how much can the non-custodial parent afford to pay,
how old the child is, what the child’s needs are, whether the custodial
parent can afford to take care of the child on his/her own.
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After students have had a few minutes to write down their thoughts, ask
for volunteers to share their ideas and explain why they think something
is important to consider.
2. Go through Pt. I of the PowerPoint covering the following material; the
notes below correspond with each slide in the PowerPoint. Note: the
information in this PowerPoint is from: Family Law Examples and
Explanations - 3rd Edition by Robert Oliphant and Nancy Ver Steegh - Aspen
Publishers.
i.
Overview of child custody
Defining Custodial Relationships: Some legislatures, as well as the American
Legal Institute (ALI), have created presumptions that joint legal custody and
joint physical custody are in the best interests of the child.
How Is Custody Determined?: Courts are interested in the “best interests of
the child.” To determine what constitutes the best interests of the child, courts
consider a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the ones listed here.
Child’s preferences: child must be of a certain age/maturity to express
preference. A child’s preference is not dispositive. Courts will also
sometimes consider why a child is expressing the preference. For example,
if a teenager expresses a preference to live with his father because the
father is less strict, doesn’t set a curfew and lets him skip school all the time,
the court might not be willing to give credit to the teen’s preference.
Child’s adjustment to school/home/community: if granting custody to one
parent over the other results in less disruption to the child’s
home/school/community, this goes toward showing the best interests of
the child. This goes hand-in-hand with maintaining the status quo.
Status quo: Maintaining the status quo refers to keeping things as they
have been. Courts really value not disrupting the child or causing too much
change in the life the child is accustomed to. For example, if the parents
have been separated for four years prior to filing for divorce and during
that time, their six-year-old child has lived primarily with her father, the
courts would be hesitant to disrupt or change the arrangement.
Health of individuals involved: It’s important to note that this does not
give courts the freedom to discriminate against individuals with disabilities.
A parent’s illness or disability cannot be the only factor in determining the
best interests of the child. It’s OK for courts to consider health in a more
holistic way.
Natural parent presumption: Typically, natural (biological) parents have a
right to their children over al third parties. This includes step-parents,
grandparents, etc.
How Custody is NOT Determined:
Paternal/maternal presumption: Courts used to rely on stereotypes about
sex to determine custody. For example, the maternal presumption
was that mothers are naturally more loving, caring and fit to raise children
so mothers would historically be automatically granted custody. Similarly,
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before that, a paternal presumption existed that fathers were better
financially able to care for their children so they would always get custody.
Courts have abandoned sex-based presumptions for purposes of
considering custody; they are now more concerned with the best interests
of the child rather than the sex of the parent. Some jurisdictions have held
these presumptions to be unconstitutional.
Cohabitation: Cohabitation refers to two or more people living together.
The UMDA (Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act) and ALI (American Legal
Institute) prohibit the consideration of cohabitation for purposes of
determining custody UNLESS it affects the child. So, for example, if a mother
lives with her boyfriend, this does not preclude her (or count against her)
from having custody of her child unless it affects the child (e.g. the
boyfriend abuses the child).
Careers: The ALI prohibits consideration of relative earning capacity of the
parents (Section 2.12(1)(f))
Gay and Lesbian Parents: The ALI specifically prohibits courts from
considering the sexual orientation of the parent. (Section 2.12(1)(d))
Parental conduct not affecting the child: Many states have adopted
statutory language contained in Section 402 of the UMDA preventing courts
from considering parental conduct that does not affect the parent’s
relationship to the child. Usually there must be a nexus between the
parental activity and harm to the child. Whether parental conduct affects
the child is a question of fact that the trial court must determine on a caseby-case basis.
Child Custody Modification: Once custody is assigned, it is difficult to modify it.
Note again the preference for maintaining stability and the status quo for the child.
A substantial change in circumstances means a fact or issue that did not exist at the
time that the original custody order was entered. A fact that existed at the time
the original custody order was entered cannot later be used as a reason to modify.
Relocation: If a parent has sole custody of a child, he or she may generally relocate
to another state with that child (remember, people have a constitutional right to
travel between the states). Visitation with the other parent must be honored and
travel expenses incurred to make the visitation possible may be used to offset the
non-custodial parent’s child support obligations.
If the parents have joint custody, the parent seeking to relocate must file a petition
showing that the move would be in the best interests of the child. This is essentially
a custody modification action because the relocating parent is essentially seeking to
have his or her custodial status heightened to sole custody with visitation for the
other parent.
ii. Overview of visitation
Visitation: The final custody order usually schedules hours for parenting time
(visitation) and address issues such as transportation, holidays and vacations.
Note that stepparents, grandparents, and other 3rd parties are generally NOT
entitled to visitation. There was a case from WA called Troxel v. Granville where
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the Supreme Ct struck down a WA state statute that granted visitation for
grandparents.
Standards for Denying or Limiting Visitation: Because parents have a
constitutional right to have contact with their children, courts will ONLY deny
visitation in the most egregious circumstances.
The burden is on the parent contesting the visitation to show that the child will be
seriously endangered.
Note that even the permissible factors for consideration often result in limitations
on visitation-such as supervised custodial time or exchange of child thru an
intermediary- but not necessarily an outright denial of visitation.
iii. Overview of child support
What is Income for Purposes of Child Support?: Pretty much anything and
everything counts as income for purposes of child support. Non-custodial parent
pays child support to the custodial parent. Stepparents usually are not obligated
to pay child support for their stepchildren upon divorce.
Imputation of Income: Different jurisdictions do this differently. Some have a very
strict approach where they will always impute income for voluntary under- or unemployment. Other jurisdictions follow a less strict approach where they only
impute income if there is a bad faith effort to avoid child support obligations. In
such jurisdictions, somebody who is making a good-faith effort to find a job or is
underemployed for a ‘good’ reason (i.e., not simply to avoid their support
obligations; examples include taking a salary cut to work for a nonprofit they are
really passionate about or making a lifestyle change). Some jurisdictions take an
intermediate approach and are somewhere in the middle.
Calculating Child Support: Deviations can be made from child support obligations
based on a child’s need for medical support or special care.
A parent who owes child support CANNOT withhold payment just because the
custodial parent withholds visitation; similarly, a custodial parent cannot
withhold visitation just because child support is owed.
Washington State is an income shares model state.
Consequences of Failure to Pay Child Support: Child support was historically a
state issue but in an effort to promote uniformity and reduce public assistance
expenditures, the federal government became increasingly involved in creating
national child support policy.
The Child Support Recovery Act of 1992 made it a federal crime to willfully fail to
pay a past-due support obligation. In 1998 CRSA became “Deadbeat Parents
Punishment Act”
B.
Exercise: Small Group Discussions
1. Break the students into small groups of about 4-5 students each
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2. Pt. II of the PowerPoint consists of a series scenarios; post the scenarios one
by one. Give the students a few minutes to discuss the issues in the scenario
and then reconvene as a class and have students share what they discussed
in their groups. The issues in each scenario are:
Scenario #1: There is definitely an issue here! As we discussed,
maternal/paternal presumptions are inappropriate considerations for
determining custody.
Scenario #2: No, Kail cannot legally withhold visitation just because Joe is
failing to fulfil his support obligations. There is alternative recourse for Kail,
such as seeking court enforcement or some of the other penalties we
discussed for failure to make child support payments.
Scenario #3: Beyonce must pay Jay-Z $400K monthly. Beyonce owes $1.2
million and Jay-Z owes $800K. Since it doesn’t make sense for them to
‘exchange’ checks, Bey just pays Jay-Z the difference.
Scenario #4: Probably not. If a parent has sole custody of a child, he or she
may generally relocate to another state with that child (remember, people
have a constitutional right to travel between the states).
Scenario #5: Courts have recognized that it is in children’s best interests to
have stability; thus, maintaining the status quo is usually favored. Thus, since
the kids have been living primarily with Angelina, a court would likely be
hesitant to disrupt this arrangement and grant sole custody of the kids for
Brad. Courts have also recognized keeping siblings together often goes
towards children’s best interests. Thus, Brad’s proposal of splitting the kids
down the middle is misguided and unlikely to be adopted by a court.
Scenario #6: Yes, Victoria can ask the court to impute David’s salary for
purposes of calculating child support. Because David is voluntarily
unemployed in a bad-faith effort to avoid his child support obligations, the
court will probably not hesitate to impute his former income onto him.
C.
Exercise: Trivia Game
Trivia questions and answers are in an attached document
1. Have each team take out a piece of paper and number It 1-10.
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2. Tell the students that you will be reading out loud trivia questions; as you ask each
question they should write their answer next to the corresponding number. Read each
question aloud at least twice; you can repeat questions as necessary.
3. After you have gone through and read all of the questions and students have had an
opportunity to fill in their answers, go through each of the questions as a class. For
example, re-read the first question and have each of the teams say their answer. After all of
the teams have said what their answers are, tell students what the correct answer is. Have
the students ‘grade’ their own quizzes.
4. At the end of the game, the team with the most correct answers gets a small price 
EVALUATION
A. Student participation in small group discussions of scenarios
B. Student participation in trivia game
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Child Custody/Visitation/Support
Trivia Questions & Answers
1. True or false – legal custody refers to a parent’s authority to make major decisions
on behalf of the child. (TRUE)
2. When determining custody, courts are most interested in _____________________ . (Best
Interests of the Child)
3. Name two appropriate considerations for determining the best interests of the child.
(Some acceptable responses: keeping biological siblings together, parents
preferences, child’s preferences, status quo, natural parent presumption,
child’s adjustment to school/home/community, health of the individuals
involved)
4. Name two inappropriate considerations for determining the best interests of the
child. (Some acceptable responses: paternal/maternal presumption,
cohabitation, careers, gay and lesbian parents, parental conduct not affecting
child)
5. True or false – once courts enter into a custody agreement, they are usually hesitant
to change it unless there is a substantial change in circumstances (True)
6. True or false – a parent with sole physical custody can generally move out of state
with the child if he or she wishes to do so. (TRUE)
7. True or false - Grandparents and stepparents are entitled to visitation. (FALSE; see
Troxel v. Granville).
8. True or false – a parent who is unemployed is exempt from child support obligations
(FALSE; courts may impute income)
9. True or false – willful failure to pay child support is a federal crime (True)
10. Parents are generally entitled to visitation unless the court finds, after a hearing,
that _____________________________ (visitation would endanger seriously the child’s
physical, mental, moral or emotional health)