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Legal Information: Northern Mariana Islands

Custody

Can a parent who committed violence get custody?

If the judge finds that the other parent committed domestic or family violence against you, s/he is required to consider the following things:

  • your child’s safety;
  • your safety; and
  • the abuser’s history of harming or threatening to harm other people.1

The judge will assume that it is not in your child’s best interest to be in the custody of an abusive parent. However, the abusive parent can present evidence to try to change the judge’s mind.2 This is called a “rebuttable presumption.”

For information about when an abuser can get visitation, go to Can a parent who committed violence get visitation?

Note: If you were absent or you had to move because of the domestic violence, the judge should not hold that against you.3

1 8 CMC § 1932(a)
2 8 CMC § 1931; 1933
3 8 CMC § 1932(b)

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