This toolkit tells you about responding to a Complaint for Custody, Parenting Time, and Child Support. This toolkit is for defendants in custody cases, not divorce cases. If your spouse filed for divorce, please visit the My Spouse Filed for Divorce, and We Have Minor Children toolkit.
For general information about custody cases, read the Articles. Read the Common Questions if you have a specific question. If you want to prepare an Answer or an Answer and Counterclaim, use the Forms link to prepare your forms. The Checklist below has step-by-step instructions for responding to a custody complaint and finishing your custody case. Go to Courts & Agencies for information about the court or agency that will handle your case.
You'll find links to legal aid offices and lawyer referral services under Find A Lawyer. If there is a Self-Help Center in your area you can get more help there. If you need something other than legal help, look in Community Services. If you need a fee waiver, an interpreter, a court to accommodate your disability, or more information about going to court, visit Going to Court.
Common Questions
If you were served with a complaint for custody, this makes you the Defendant in the case. Go to the I Am a Defendant in a Custody Case toolkit to learn what you can do.
In a custody case the following may be decided:
- Who has legal custody (who gets to make major decisions in your child’s life)
- Who has physical custody (who your child lives with)
- What the parenting time arrangements will be
- Who will pay child support and how much
- Who will provide health insurance
- How uninsured medical costs and child care costs will be paid
Serve your child’s other parent with a copy of every paper you file in the custody case. If you are the Defendant, do this by mailing the papers by first-class mail to your child’s other parent at the address listed on the Summons. If the other parent has a lawyer, mail the papers to the lawyer instead.
Complete a Proof of Mailing form each time you mail papers, and file it with the court clerk's office in the county where your custody case is located.