California Custody Forms & Guides

Statutes

• Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 1218 - Contempt; Fines, Jail, Community Service and Fees

  A person adjudged guilty of contempt may be fined up to $1,000, jailed up to five days, or both, and a party who violated a court order may be ordered to pay the reasonable attorney's fees and costs of the party who brought the contempt proceeding. For contempt of a Family Code order the court shall order, for each count, up to 120 hours of community service or jail on a first finding, up to 120 hours of community service plus up to 120 hours of jail on a second, and up to 240 hours of jail plus up to 240 hours of community service on a third or later finding, considering the parties' work schedules; instead, the court may grant probation or a conditional sentence of up to one, two or three years. A party in contempt of an order in a dissolution or legal separation case may not enforce that order or judgment against the other party, except for child or spousal support. On a Family Code contempt the court also orders the contemner to pay an administrative fee for any community-service assignment, not to exceed its actual cost.

• Cal. Fam. Code § 3011 — Best Interests of the Child; Factors

  In deciding a child's best interests in a custody proceeding, the court must consider, among any other relevant factors consistent with Section 3020: the child's health, safety and welfare; any history of abuse by a parent or other person seeking custody against a child related to that person by blood or affinity or with whom that person has had a caretaking relationship (no matter how temporary), against the other parent, or against that person's parent, current spouse, cohabitant, or dating or engagement partner; the nature and amount of contact with both parents; and either parent's habitual or continual illegal use of controlled substances or habitual or continual abuse of alcohol or prescribed controlled substances. Before considering abuse or substance-abuse allegations the court may require independent corroboration, such as written reports from law enforcement, child protective services or other social welfare agencies, courts or medical facilities. If those allegations were raised in the current proceeding and the court still orders sole or joint custody or unsupervised visitation to that parent, it must state its reasons in writing or on the record that the order is in the child's best interest and protects the safety of the parties and the child, and the order must be specific as to time, day, place and manner of transfer. The court shall not consider the sex, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation of a parent, legal guardian or relative in determining the child's best interests. Stats. 2026, ch. 848 (SB 1364), approved September 30, 2026 and expected to take effect January 1, 2027, adds that abuse of the other parent includes abuse that resulted in conception of the child, and new Section 3044.1 creates a rebuttable presumption against sole or joint custody for a party found by clear and convincing evidence to have committed a sexual assault that resulted in the child's conception.

• Cal. Fam. Code § 3020 — Custody Policy; Health, Safety, and Continuing Contact

  California's stated policy is that the health, safety, and welfare of children shall be the court's primary concern in determining best interests when making any physical custody, legal custody, or visitation order, and that child abuse or domestic violence in a household where a child resides is detrimental to the child. It is also state policy that children have frequent and continuing contact with both parents after separation, except when that contact would not be in the child's best interests. When those two policies conflict, the custody or visitation order shall be made in a manner that ensures the health, safety, and welfare of the child and the safety of all family members. A parent's sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation is not to be considered in determining the child's best interests. Section 3020 is a policy statement only: it does not set a standard, burden, or waiting period for modifying an existing custody order.

• Cal. Fam. Code § 3028 — Compensation for Denied Parenting Time

  The court may order financial compensation for periods when a parent fails to take on caretaker responsibility, or when a parent has been thwarted by the other parent in exercising custody or visitation rights under a custody or visitation order or a written or oral agreement between the parents. The compensation is limited to the reasonable expenses incurred for or on behalf of the child because of the other parent's failure or thwarting, and may include the value of caretaker services, not only the cost of third-party services. It is requested by noticed motion or order to show cause alleging under penalty of perjury (1) at least $100 of expenses, or (2) at least three failures to exercise custody or visitation, or (3) at least three occurrences of thwarting, within the six months before filing. Attorney's fees shall be awarded to the prevailing party upon a showing of the nonprevailing party's ability to pay under § 270. Section 3028 provides money compensation only; it does not provide for make-up parenting time.

• Cal. Fam. Code § 3040 — Order of Preference for Custody

  Custody should be granted in this order of preference according to the child's best interest: (1) to both parents jointly or to either parent; (2) if to neither parent, to the person in whose home the child has been living in a wholesome and stable environment; (3) to any other person the court finds suitable and able to provide adequate care and guidance. When granting custody to either parent, the court shall consider, among other factors, which parent is more likely to allow the child frequent and continuing contact with the noncustodial parent. The section establishes neither a preference nor a presumption for or against joint legal custody, joint physical custody, or sole custody, leaving the court the widest discretion to choose a parenting plan in the child's best interest. A parent's immigration status shall not disqualify them, the court shall not consider a parent's sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation, and if the effects of a parent's mental illness are a factor the court must give a list of local mental health resources and state its reasons in writing or on the record. Section 3040 does not itself set the standard for modifying an existing custody order. The court may also require the parents to submit a plan for implementing the custody order.

• Cal. Fam. Code § 3044 — Domestic Violence; Rebuttable Presumption

  If the court finds that a party seeking custody perpetrated domestic violence within the previous five years against the other party seeking custody, the child or the child's siblings, or certain other listed persons, there is a rebuttable presumption that awarding that party sole or joint physical or legal custody is detrimental to the child's best interest, and the presumption may only be rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence. To overcome it the court shall find both that the perpetrator has shown custody to them is in the child's best interest, without relying on the frequent-and-continuing-contact preference, and that the listed factors on balance support the policies of § 3020: completion of a batterer's treatment program, alcohol or drug counseling and a parenting class (if appropriate), compliance with probation or parole and with any protective order, any further acts of domestic violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm or ammunition while restrained; the court must make specific findings on each factor and state its reasons in writing or on the record. The finding is satisfied by a conviction within the previous five years of a qualifying domestic-violence crime against the other party, or by another court's finding based on conduct within five years, and the court may not base its finding solely on a custody evaluator's conclusions or a Family Court Services recommendation. In an evidentiary hearing or trial where domestic violence is alleged, the court shall decide whether § 3044 applies before issuing a custody order, unless it finds a continuance is necessary, in which case it may issue a temporary custody order for a reasonable period that complies with §§ 3011 and 3020. 'Perpetrated domestic violence' means the court found the person intentionally or recklessly caused or attempted to cause bodily injury or sexual assault, placed someone in reasonable apprehension of imminent serious bodily injury, or engaged in conduct such as threatening, striking, harassing, destroying personal property, or disturbing the peace for which an ex parte order could issue under § 6320. When domestic violence is alleged, the court must tell the parties about § 3044 and give them a copy before custody mediation.

• Cal. Fam. Code § 4055 — Statewide Uniform Child Support Guideline

  California child support is calculated by the formula CS = K[HN - (H%)(TN)], where HN is the high earner's net monthly disposable income, H% is the approximate percentage of time the high earner has or will have primary physical responsibility for the children, and TN is both parties' total net monthly disposable income. K equals one plus H% (if H% is 50 percent or less) or two minus H% (if H% is over 50 percent), times a fraction set by income bracket (for example 0.250 when total net disposable income is $5,001-10,000 a month), and the result is multiplied for additional children (1.6 for two children, 2 for three). If the result is positive the higher earner pays it to the lower earner; if negative, the lower earner pays the absolute value to the higher earner. When the obligor's net disposable income is below the monthly gross income of full-time minimum wage (40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year), there is a rebuttable presumption that the obligor is entitled to a low-income adjustment, which may be rebutted by evidence that applying it would be unjust and inappropriate in the particular case. This version of the formula became operative September 1, 2024. In a default, or when a party fails to appear, and there is no evidence of time-share, H% is set at zero if the noncustodial parent is the higher earner or 100 if the custodial parent is the higher earner, and the non-defaulting party's statement of the time-share is sufficient evidence.

• Cal. Fam. Code § 4057 - Guideline Amount Presumed Correct; Rebuttal Factors

  The amount produced by the guideline formula in § 4055(a) is presumed to be the correct child support. It is a rebuttable presumption affecting the burden of proof, overcome only by admissible evidence that applying the formula would be unjust or inappropriate because a listed factor is found by a preponderance of the evidence, and the court must state the required information in writing or on the record. The factors are a stipulated different amount, a deferred sale of the family home whose rental value exceeds its carrying costs, an extraordinarily high-income payer whose formula amount would exceed the children's needs, a parent not contributing to the children's needs at a level matching that parent's custodial time, a low-income payer whose formula amount exceeds 50 percent of net disposable income, or special circumstances (such as different time-shares for different children, equal time-share with very different housing costs, special medical or other needs, or more than two parents). This version became operative September 1, 2024.

• Cal. Fam. Code § 7501 — Custodial Parent’s Right to Change Child’s Residence

  A custodial parent has the right to change the child’s residence, subject to the court’s power to restrain a move that would prejudice the child; codifies In re Marriage of Burgess as state policy.

• Cal. Fam. Code §§ 3064, 3062 - Ex Parte Custody Orders; Immediate Harm; Hearing Within 20 Days

  The court shall refrain from granting or modifying a custody order ex parte unless there has been a showing of immediate harm to the child or immediate risk that the child will be removed from California. Immediate harm includes recent or continuing acts of domestic violence by a parent and recent or continuing sexual abuse of the child, and the court shall consider a parent's illegal access to firearms and ammunition (added effective January 1, 2025). When the court enters an ex parte temporary custody order it sets a hearing within 20 days and issues an order to show cause; if service fails despite good-faith efforts and the other party is believed to be hiding the child or avoiding the court, the hearing may be reset and the order extended up to 90 more days. Once served, either party may ask ex parte to advance the hearing or dissolve or modify the order. To extend the order up to 90 more days for failed service, the parent must show under penalty of perjury that the other party has the child and is avoiding the court's jurisdiction or concealing the child's whereabouts. If the responding party does not appear or respond in time, the ex parte temporary custody order may be extended as necessary until the case ends.