(a) The permanent parenting plan shall not require mutual decision making or designation of a dispute resolution process other than court action if it is found that a parent has engaged in any of the following conduct:
(1) Willful abandonment that continues for an extended period of time or substantial refusal to perform parenting responsibilities;
(2) Physical, sexual, or a pattern of emotional abuse of a child or of another person living with that child; or
(3) A history of acts of abuse as defined in § 36-3-601(1) or a single incident of assault or sexual assault which causes serious bodily injury or the fear of such injury.
(b)(1) The parent's residential time with the child shall be limited if it is found that the parent has engaged in any of the following conduct:
(A) Willful abandonment that continues for an extended period
of time or substantial refusal to perform parenting responsibilities;
(B) Physical, sexual, or a pattern of emotional abuse of a child
or of another person living with that child; or
(C) A history of acts of abuse as defined in §
36-3-601(1) or a single incident of assault or sexual assault which
causes serious bodily harm or the fear of such harm. This subsection
(b) shall not apply when subdivision (b)(3) applies.
(2) The parent's residential time with the child shall be limited if it is found that the parent resides with a person who has engaged in any of the following conduct:
(A) Physical, sexual or a pattern of emotional abuse of a child
or of another person living with that child; or
(B) A history of acts of abuse as defined in §
36-3-601(1) or a single incident of assault or sexual assault which
causes serious bodily injury or the fear of such injury. This subsection
(b) shall not apply when subdivision (b)(3) applies.
(3) If a parent has been convicted as an adult of a sexual offense under § 39-15-302, title 39, chapter 17, part 10, or §§ 39-13-501--39-13-511, or has been found to be a sexual offender under title 39, chapter 13, part 7, the court shall restrain the parent from contact with a child that would otherwise be allowed under this part. If a parent resides with an adult who has been convicted, or with a juvenile who has been adjudicated guilty of a sexual offense under § 39-15-302, title 39, chapter 17, part 10, or §§ 39--13-501--39-13-511, or who has been found to be a sexual offender under title 39, chapter 13, part 7, the court shall restrain that parent from contact with the child unless the contact occurs outside the adult or juvenile's presence and sufficient provisions are established to protect the child.
(c) A parent's involvement or conduct may have an adverse effect
on the child's best interest, and the court may preclude or limit any provisions
of the parenting plan, if any of the following factors exist:
(1) A parent's neglect or substantial nonperformance of parenting responsibilities;
(2) An emotional or physical impairment which interferes with the parent's performance of parenting responsibilities as defined in § 36-6-402;
(3) An impairment resulting from drug, alcohol, or other substance abuse that interferes with the performance of parenting responsibilities;
(4) The absence or substantial impairment of emotional ties between the parent and the child;
(5) The abusive use of conflict by the parent which creates the danger of damage to the child's psychological development;
(6) A parent has withheld from the other parent access to the child for a protracted period without good cause;
(7) A parent's criminal convictions as they relate to such parent's ability to parent or to the welfare of the child; or
(8) Such other factors or conduct as the court expressly finds adverse to the best interests of the child.
(d) In entering a permanent parenting plan, the court shall not
draw any presumptions from the provisions of the temporary parenting plan.
Added by 1997 Pub.Acts, c. 557, § 1, eff. July 1, 1997.