Legal Question in Family Law in Indiana

Re: How gets custody?

Indiana law specifies that the judge must determine what is in the child's best interests after considering the criteria specified in the law and after listening to the testimony of both parents, other persons who give testimony, experts who have been hired to review the situation, and occasionally interviewing the child. The various criteria which the judge considers change according to when the custody matter is before him (at the time of the dissolution of the parents' marriage, on a petition to modify custody and so forth). Generally the statute is found at I.C. 31-17. Specifically 31-17-2-8 list the factors to be considered in determining the child's best interests. Standards for modification are set out in 31-17-2-21.