Also known as: best interests of the child · best-interest-of-the-child · BIC · best interests standard
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A standard that directs courts to resolve child custody, visitation, and parentage disputes by reference to the child's welfare. Courts evaluate all relevant factors including parental wishes, the child's wishes, and the child's relationships while disregarding a proposed custodian's conduct that does not affect the relationship with the child.
Bella Barnes seeks primary custody of the couple's son after separating from Bruce Baldwin. Bella presents evidence that Bruce once had an affair unrelated to parenting. The court awards joint custody after finding both parents maintain strong bonds with the child and that Bruce's personal conduct does not impair his relationship with the son.
Beatrice Brown, the maternal grandmother, holds a prior visitation order for her granddaughter. After the mother's relocation creates a substantial change in circumstances, Beatrice petitions for custody modification. The court grants the request upon finding that the change serves the child's best interest by providing greater stability.
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Brendan Burns and Bianca Baker both claim parentage of a young child after genetic testing creates ambiguity. The court weighs the child's age, the length of time each adult has acted as a parent, and the child's existing bonds. It adjudicates parentage in favor of Bianca because that outcome best promotes the child's welfare and continuity.
Blake Butler petitions to modify an existing custody order two years after entry, citing improved housing. The court finds no substantial change in the child's circumstances since the original decree and determines that modification would not serve the child's best interest. The prior custodian therefore retains primary physical custody.
Boreal Energy's employee and her former partner agree to expand the nonparent's visitation schedule. The court approves the modification because the parties' agreement advances the child's best interest by increasing contact with a supportive adult. No further hearing on changed circumstances is required.
Brookside Pharmaceuticals relocates an employee and her child to the forum state. The employee and child develop significant ties through school and medical care while substantial evidence of the child's daily needs exists locally. The court assumes jurisdiction because exercising authority serves the child's best interest under the significant-connection test.
No. The Due Process Clause presumes that fit parents act in their child's best interest. A statute permitting any person to obtain visitation solely on a judge's independent best-interests assessment, without according special weight to the fit parent's contrary decision, violates that presumption.
A court may modify only upon a showing of changed circumstances arising after the decree or unknown at the time of entry, and only when modification is necessary to serve the child's best interest. The original custodian is presumed to remain appropriate absent such proof.
The court may approve the parties' agreement unless it finds that the agreement itself is not in the child's best interest. The standard therefore operates as a check even on consensual modifications.
The court considers the child's age, the length of time each claimant has assumed a parental role, and other factors bearing on the child's welfare. The adjudication must promote the child's best interest rather than simply follow biology or timing.
…to refuse artificial sustenance in the event that the ward was terminally ill and irreversibly comatose. Declining to adopt a best interests standard for deciding when it would be appropriate to exercise a ward's right because it "lets another make a determination of a patient's quality of life," the court opted instead for a substituted…