Family court reform
Arkansas
Where Arkansas stands on each reform BMD tracks. General information, not legal advice.
Equal parenting time presumption
Passed
Makes an equal, or approximately equal, parenting-time schedule the legal starting point in a custody case. The presumption is rebuttable, and a court that orders something else has to say why.
Bill: Act 604 of 2021 (SB 18)
Statute: Ark. Code Ann. 9-13-101
Rebuttable presumption of joint custody, defined as an approximate and reasonably equal division of time. Arkansas requires clear and convincing evidence to rebut it.
Source: official bill or statute page
Reviewed 2026-10-06.
Deployed-parent custody protection
Passed
Enacts the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act: a military deployment by itself is not a reason to change custody, orders made for the deployment are temporary and end with it, and a deploying parent may delegate parenting time.
Statute: Ark. Code Ann. 9-21-101 et seq.
Enacted the uniform act. Citation taken from the National Conference of State Legislatures military parent custody list; not separately confirmed against the state code.
Source: official bill or statute page
Reviewed 2026-10-06.
Parenting time interference remedies
No bill yet
Gives a parent denied court-ordered parenting time a real remedy - make-up or compensatory time, costs, or a penalty - rather than leaving contempt as the only route.
No bill of this kind is cited for Arkansas at the last review.
Reviewed 2026-10-13.