Nevada Bill Strengthening Child Custody Laws Signed

Carson City - AB 59 was signed into law today. The bill was sponsored by the Attorney General and passed the Nevada Assembly 42-0 and the Nevada Senate 20-0. The new law creates a presumption against an award of child custody or unsupervised visitation for parents or other parties who have abducted a child in the past. As always, the focus of our efforts have been on protecting children and encouraging stable and wholesome environments for their nurturance, said Attorney General Masto. The hope of the bill is that it will reduce the incidence of parental abductions of children in Nevada, while fostering a promise of reunification of the parent-child relationship for parents who have made this mistake in the past. The intent of the new legislation is to protect children from future harm by reducing the risk and potential for future abductions by those with demonstrated histories of such unlawful acts. Under Nevada law, child custody determinations are made in accordance with the best-interests-of-the-child standard, and under the legal presumption for joint custody. This requires the court to examine questions such as the level of conflict between the parents, the ability of parents to cooperate to meet the childs needs, the mental and physical health of the parents, and whether the parents will allow the child to have frequent associations with the other parent. Nevada law already recognizes prior abductions of children as a risk factor for future abductions, but this recognition has not been included in the child custody provisions in the laws regulating the dissolution of marriage. Currently half of the child abduction cases in Nevada involve a prior abduction, attempted abduction, or serious incidents of child custody interference by a parent. In 2008, Nevada had over 100 parental abduction cases filed.