§ 9-15-215 - Factors in determining custody and visitation.
9-15-215. Factors in determining custody and visitation.
(a) In addition to other factors that a circuit court shall consider in a proceeding in which the temporary custody of a child or temporary visitation by a parent is at issue and in which the court has made a finding of domestic or family violence, the court shall consider:
(1) As primary the safety and well-being of the child and of the parent who is the plaintiff of domestic or family violence; and
(2) The defendant's history of causing physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or causing reasonable fear of physical harm, bodily injury, or assault to another person.
(b) If a parent is absent or relocates because of an act of domestic or family violence by the other parent, the absence or relocation is not a factor that weighs against the parent in determining custody or visitation.
(c) There shall be a rebuttable presumption that it is not in the best interest of the child to be placed in the custody of an abusive parent in cases in which there is a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that a pattern of abuse has occurred.