Custody in Wyoming.
The starting point the law actually sets, what the judge has to weigh, and the deadlines that catch people out.
See a different stateWyoming
and Wyoming says so in unusually flat statutory language. W.S. § 20-2-201(d): "In determining custody a court shall not favor or disfavor any form of custody. Custody shall be crafted to promote the best interests of the children, and may include any combination of joint, shared or sole custody." That is a genuine neutrality rule — it cuts against a presumption for sole custody just as much as against a presumption for equal time. Section 20-2-201(b) adds that "In any proceeding in which the custody of a child is at issue the court shall not prefer one (1) parent as a custodian solely because of gender." There is no 50/50 default in Wyoming, and equally, no assumption that one parent should be primary.
Use the state’s own words
Wyoming says "custody" and "visitation," and its statute contemplates "any combination of joint, shared or sole custody." Wyoming uses "joint" and "shared" as distinct words in the same sentence, so be specific about which you are asking for. Orders must be written in "well defined terms."
How Wyoming decides
Decisions against where the child lives
Wyoming's custody statute does not define legal versus physical custody. W.S. § 20-2-201(d) says only that custody "may include any combination of joint, shared or sole custody" and that the court "shall order custody in well defined terms to promote understanding and compliance by the parties." Because the statute leaves the labels open, what protects you in Wyoming is precision in the order itself — spell out decision-making authority and the schedule explicitly rather than relying on a label to carry meaning. One default is fixed by statute: under § 20-2-201(e), "Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the noncustodial parent shall have the same right of access as the parent awarded custody to any records relating to the child of the parties, including school records, activities, teachers and teachers' conferences as well as medical and dental treatment providers and mental health records." Also, § 20-2-201(h) provides that a court finding of physical placement in a child support order "shall not be considered a disposition of custody" — so do not assume your support paperwork settled custody.
What the judge must weigh
Section 20-2-201(a) provides that in determining the best interests of the child, "the court shall consider, but is not limited to, the following factors": (i) the quality of the relationship each child has with each parent; (ii) the ability of each parent to provide adequate care for each child throughout each period of responsibility, including arranging for each child's care by others as needed; (iii) the relative competency and fitness of each parent; (iv) each parent's willingness to accept all responsibilities of parenting, "including a willingness to accept care for each child at specified times and to relinquish care to the other parent at specified times"; (v) how the parents and each child can best maintain and strengthen a relationship with each other; (vi) how the parents and each child interact and communicate with each other and how such interaction and communication may be improved; (vii) the ability and willingness of each parent to allow the other to provide care without intrusion, and to respect the other parent's rights and responsibilities, including the right to privacy; (viii) geographic distance between the parents' residences; (ix) the current physical and mental ability of each parent to care for each child; (x) whether either parent has a conviction for which the parent must register as a sex offender under W.S. 7-19-301 through 7-19-310; and (xi) any other factors the court deems necessary and relevant. Factors (iv) and (vii) are pointed — Wyoming is watching whether you can hand the child over on time and leave the other parent alone during their time.
What the child wants
Wyoming's statutory factor list does not include the child's preference and sets no age. The list is expressly open-ended — the court "shall consider, but is not limited to" the eleven listed factors, and factor (xi) covers "any other factors the court deems necessary and relevant" — so a judge can weigh a mature child's views. But no Wyoming statute gives a child of any age the right to choose, and there is no age at which a child's preference becomes controlling.
Where there has been violence or abuse
W.S. § 20-2-201(c): "The court shall consider evidence of spousal abuse or child abuse as being contrary to the best interest of the children. If the court finds that family violence has occurred, the court shall make arrangements for visitation that best protects the children and the abused spouse from further harm." Note the strength of that first sentence — the statute does not merely permit the court to weigh abuse, it directs that abuse be treated as contrary to the children's best interest. The same language is repeated for temporary custody during a divorce at § 20-2-112(b), which also requires the party applying for a temporary order to "notify the court of any known protection or custody orders issued on behalf of the parties from any other court." Bring copies of any protective orders to the temporary hearing.
The paperwork and the people
Moving away
What you must do before you move
We could not confirm a notice period or a distance trigger for this state. That does not mean there is no rule — in several states it comes from court decisions rather than a statute. Get advice before you move, not after.
Later on
Changing the order
W.S. § 20-2-204(c): a court "may modify an order concerning the care, custody and visitation of the children if there is a showing by either parent of a material change in circumstances since the entry of the order in question and that the modification would be in the best interests of the children pursuant to W.S. 20-2-201(a)." So it is a two-step test — material change first, then the full best-interest analysis. The statute also provides a specific route where the other parent is blocking your time: "proof of repeated, unreasonable failure by the custodial parent to allow visitation to the other parent in violation of an order may be considered as evidence of a material change of circumstances." Keep a dated record of every denied exchange. Separately, § 20-2-204(b) lets either parent bring a contempt motion for willful violation of a custody or visitation order, and the court may award attorney's fees and costs to the aggrieved party. There is no statutory waiting period. Modifications are subject to the military-service limits in § 20-2-205.
If you were never married
Wyoming's custody statute reaches unmarried parents directly. W.S. § 20-2-201(a) applies "In granting a divorce, separation or annulment of a marriage or upon the establishment of paternity pursuant to W.S. 14-2-401 through 14-2-907." So paternity has to be established first, under the Wyoming Parentage Act, and once it is, the same eleven best-interest factors and the same no-favored-form-of-custody rule in § 20-2-201(d) apply to you exactly as they would to divorcing parents. We could not confirm the steps for establishing paternity, which live in a different title of the code.
Wyoming's most useful sentence for a worried parent is W.S. § 20-2-201(d): "In determining custody a court shall not favor or disfavor any form of custody." There is no thumb on the scale in either direction — not toward equal time, and not toward one primary parent. What fills that space is the factor list, and two of those factors are about behavior you control right now: whether you will "relinquish care to the other parent at specified times" and whether you can let the other parent parent "without intrusion." Judges notice late exchanges and constant checking-in. Second, a practical trap: § 20-2-201(h) says a finding about physical placement in a child support order is not a custody determination. If your only paperwork is a support order, you do not have a custody order — and you should get one.
What we could not confirm
- Wyoming appears to have no relocation statute — we found no notice period, distance trigger, or consent requirement in Title 20 — which means moving away with a child is governed by court decisions rather than a rule you can look up. That is exactly the situation where you should get legal advice before you move, not after. We also could not confirm whether a written parenting plan must be filed, the authority for appointing a guardian ad litem or custody evaluator in a Wyoming custody case and who pays, whether mediation is required before a contested hearing, or the steps for establishing paternity. The Wyoming Judicial Branch publishes self-help family law forms at wyocourts.gov/self-help-forms, and Equal Justice Wyoming is the statewide legal help program; either is a good next stop.
Compare all fifty states
Where 50/50 really is the default, and the twenty-six states where nothing is presumed.
And the money side
How Wyoming calculates child support, and the overnight number that changes it.
The rest of what we have written about Wyoming. Every figure is quoted from Wyoming’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.