Summary — HB 1242 (North Dakota, 69th Legislative Assembly)
Status: Enacted — Signed by the Governor 2025-05-29; effective 2025-09-01.
Sponsor(s): Representatives Frelich, Tveit, Klemin, Vetter, Rohr; Senators Mathern, Barta, Bekkedahl, Boehm, Powers, Paulson, Van Oosting.
Purpose
- Amend North Dakota Century Code sections 14-09-00.1 and 14-09-29 to revise definitions and to create a rebuttable statutory presumption favoring shared parental decisionmaking and shared residential responsibility (roughly equal parenting time) in child custody proceedings.
Key provisions
- Definitions (amends 14-09-00.1)
- Clarifies and expands defined terms used in custody law, including “decisionmaking responsibility,” “parenting plan,” “parental rights and responsibilities,” “parenting schedule,” and “residential responsibility.”
- Broadens the statutory concept of “harm” to expressly include negative health effects from excessive corporal punishment and acts defined as sex offenses under chapter 12.1‑20.
Rebuttable presumption for shared parenting (amends 14-09-29)
- Establishes a presumption that shared decisionmaking responsibility and shared residential responsibility are in the child’s best interests in residential-responsibility proceedings (including interim proceedings), unless the presumption is rebutted or an exception applies.
- If the presumption applies and is not rebutted, the court must award each parent shared decisionmaking responsibility and construct a parenting schedule providing each parent equal or approximately equal residential responsibility (practical scheduling to ensure the child’s welfare). Courts may consider factors listed in section 14-09-06.2 when creating schedules.
Grounds to rebut the presumption
- The presumption may be rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence showing that shared decisionmaking/residential responsibility:
- May cause harm to the child;
- May endanger the child’s physical or emotional health; or
- Is not feasible because the parents cannot provide a parenting schedule with exchanges at least every seven days.
Exceptions and safety provisions
- The presumption does not apply if there is a protective order or other court order limiting contact.
- Where the court finds domestic violence — either a single incident causing serious bodily injury or use of a dangerous weapon, or a pattern of domestic violence proximate to the proceeding — supervised parenting time is required unless clear and convincing evidence supports unsupervised time.
- If a parent is found to have sexually abused the child, the court must prohibit contact until the parent completes a treatment program and supervised contact may be allowed only as part of therapeutic treatment and with agreement of therapists.
- Costs (court costs, attorneys’ fees, evaluation and expert fees) incurred in proceedings where a parent perpetrated qualifying domestic violence must generally be paid by that parent unless doing so would create undue hardship.
Who is affected
- Parents and children involved in custody (parental rights and responsibilities) proceedings in North Dakota.
- Family courts and judges (new presumptions and required findings).
- Custody evaluators, guardians ad litem, domestic violence and supervised‑visitation service providers.
- Potentially child welfare and social‑service programs that support supervised visitation and treatment services.
Procedural/timeline notes
- Enactment date: Signed 2025-05-29.
- Effective date: September 1, 2025.
- The presumption is rebuttable (preponderance standard); when rebutted, courts must make specific findings addressing best‑interest factors.
Potential impacts and considerations
- Likely to increase the number of custody orders awarding shared residential time where safety concerns are not proven.
- Requires courts to make specific findings when declining shared arrangements, which may increase litigation in contested cases and require more judicial fact‑finding.
- Safety exceptions preserve the court’s ability to limit or supervise contact for domestic violence or sexual abuse, and shift certain costs to perpetrators of qualifying domestic violence.
- Implementation may increase demand for supervised visitation centers, therapeutic services, and court‑appointed evaluations in cases alleging abuse or where the presumption is rebutted.
