Family Law is a broad category that includes:
- Child custody
- Child support
- Adoption
- Determining who is the father (paternity)
- Guardianship
- Pre and Post-nuptial agreements
Paternity
Paternity is the legal determination of a child’s biological father when a child is born to unmarried parents. Until paternity is established, a father has no legal rights or obligations. In Hawaii, paternity can be established three ways:
- If the parents marry after the child is born
- If the parents sign a voluntary establishment of paternity document when the child is born
- One of the parents can file a paternity petition with Family Court, which can result in a court ordered test
Once paternity is established, the father can obtain custody and visitation rights, and may be required to provide child support. Following the paternity determination, child custody and support matters are determined the same way as in a divorce case.
In Hawaii, courts determine child custody and support matters based on what is in the best interests of the children.
Child Custody
The term “child custody” actually has two parts: legal custody and physical custody. Legal custody refers to the right to make decisions regarding the child, including medical, educational, and religious matters. Legal custody can be joint or sole, and it does not affect child support, which is only linked to physical custody.
Physical custody refers to where the child actually lives. Physical custody can also be sole or joint. With joint physical custody, the child divides time living with each parent and the court assumes the children are living with each parent for six months out of the year. Situations can also arise where one parent has sole physical custody, but the other parent has “extensive visitation,” which is generally 143 days but less than six months. In most cases, when a parent has not been given physical custody, he or she receives reasonable visitation rights, which can sometimes be a significant amount of time.
Child Support
In Hawaii, child support is determined based on a standardized set of guidelines, unless the court finds “exceptional circumstances” in a particular case. These guidelines take into account the custodial parent’s minimum needs and costs above his or her own living expenses, combined with the standard of living adjustment (“SOLA”) needs of the children. Parents are allowed to keep only enough income to meet their most basic needs and to continue working. Any income above this minimum amount is to be shared by the children so that the children can receive the benefits of a parent’s higher standard of living.
This complicated formula mainly takes into account each parent’s gross monthly incomes, but also factors in other expenses such as child care expenses, medical costs, and any alimony payments one spouse makes to the other. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, the court will not consider other living expenses such as mortgage, rent, and/or vehicle payments. The situation becomes more complex where there is split custody, which occurs when one parent has physical custody of one or more children, and the other parent has physical custody of the other children.
