Family Court SidekickYour next clear step
State guide · AR

Arkansas Family Court: Custody and Parenting-Time Guide

Plain-language Arkansas information for a custody or parenting-time route, including filing, official forms, free help, fee waivers, and legal-cost context.

Last reviewed:

This page provides general legal information, not legal advice. State law, court rules, forms, and local procedures can change. Confirm current requirements with the court handling the case.

State laws, court rules, and forms can change. Automated link checks will run every week once the monitoring job is deployed. Please check each cited source before relying on it. Report a broken link or changed law.

Find the right family court

The custody or parenting-time route described in this guide is handled through the Arkansas circuit courts. Other family-law matters can follow a different court or procedure.

Find the court for your area.

  • Arkansas circuit courts are general-jurisdiction trial courts and include a domestic relations division.Sources:Circuit Courts

How Arkansas courts decide custody

The Arkansas Judiciary's State Court Guide lists custody as a domestic-relations case type.Sources:Arkansas State Court Guide To Statistical Reporting

Key legal sources

Parenting time

This draft does not state an Arkansas parenting-time rule because it did not verify a current official section-level source for Arkansas Code section 9-13-101.Sources:Arkansas State Court Guide To Statistical Reporting

Key legal sources

How to file

These steps are limited to one initial parent-filed Arkansas circuit-court domestic-relations custody case involving a minor child after jurisdiction has been determined. They identify only the statewide case-category and cover documents currently published by the Arkansas Judiciary, not a complete case-specific packet.Sources:Arkansas State Court Guide To Statistical Reporting, Court Forms

  1. Confirm that the route is a circuit-court domestic-relations custody case

    The Arkansas Judiciary's State Court Guide lists custody as a domestic-relations case type and describes it as a case asking a court to determine a child's control or care. Other routes have different requirements.Sources:Arkansas State Court Guide To Statistical Reporting

  2. Attach the Domestic Relations Cover Sheet

    The Arkansas Judiciary Domestic Relations Cover Sheet says it is required under Administrative Order Number 8. For an original filing, its instructions say the filing information must be completed by the attorney or self-represented litigant filing an initial pleading and that the clerk will not accept the pleading unless accompanied by the completed form.Sources:Domestic Relations Cover Sheet

  3. Include the Confidential Information Sheet for a case involving a minor child

    The Arkansas Judiciary Domestic Relations Cover Sheet says to also file the completed Confidential Information Sheet if the case involves minor children.Sources:Domestic Relations Cover Sheet

  4. Obtain case-specific filing, service, and order requirements from the circuit clerk or qualified legal help

    The statewide forms page publishes cover documents and some general domestic-relations forms, but this research did not identify a complete current statewide packet for this initial-custody route. Do not infer a complaint, service method, deadline, hearing, or final-order requirement from these limited statewide materials.Sources:Court Forms, Arkansas State Court Guide To Statistical Reporting

Official forms

Open the official forms portal.

  • The Arkansas Judiciary's Court Forms page lists the Domestic Relations Cover Sheet, the Confidential Information Sheet, and other separate forms. It does not present those listings as one complete statewide initial-custody packet.Sources:Court Forms

Free court self-help

Find court self-help near you.

  • Legal Aid of Arkansas

    Area served: Arkansas residents seeking civil legal help, subject to program eligibility.

    Legal Aid of Arkansas says it provides free legal services to low-income Arkansans with civil legal problems and offers an application route.Sources:Home

    Eligibility: Its application information says income and assets must meet the applicable eligibility guidelines; submitting an application does not establish representation.

  • Arkansas Access to Justice legal-help information

    Area served: Statewide legal-help information and the statewide toll-free HelpLine described by the organization.

    Arkansas Access to Justice explains that civil legal-aid providers use a statewide HelpLine and online application process; it does not say that it directly represents people.Sources:I Need Help

    Eligibility: The organization says applicants are screened for financial eligibility when they call or apply online, so availability and acceptance must be confirmed with the provider.

Fee waivers

Arkansas Rule of Civil Procedure 72 allows a circuit court to permit a qualifying civil case to proceed without prepaying fees, costs, or security after the required petition and affidavit; the court decides whether the showing is sufficient.Sources:Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure, In Forma Pauperis Affidavit, see Rule 72

Who may qualify

  • The Arkansas Judiciary's Rule 72 explanation says the petition must be verified by an affidavit and that the court may allow the case to proceed upon a satisfactory showing of a colorable cause of action.Sources:Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure

What to do

  1. Use the Arkansas Judiciary affidavit and petition identified for Rule 72

    The Court Forms page publishes an In Forma Pauperis Affidavit marked for Rule 72. The affidavit asks for financial information and states that the petitioner seeks to proceed without prepaying fees, costs, or security.Sources:In Forma Pauperis Affidavit, see Rule 72

  2. File the petition and affidavit for the court's decision

    The Arkansas Judiciary's Rule 72 explanation describes a petition for leave to proceed in forma pauperis verified by an affidavit; it says the court may allow the petition if the required showing is made.Sources:Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure

Official fee-waiver forms

Key statute or rule

Attorney cost benchmark

Lawyer fees vary by county, experience, services, and the facts of a case. This state benchmark is context for planning, not a quote.

State and local details to confirm

Part of Family Law in Your State.