Kentucky Visitation Laws

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: KY

My brother has two kids with his ex girlfriend and she has refused to let him have them since Christmas. The kids are 2 and 5, before this she was allowing him to have overnights a 4-5 times a month. She is mad that he isn't paying her as much child support as she wants (he's paying the court ordered amount). He has some questions and I told him I'd ask for him since he doesn't have any access to a computer (I hope that's okay).

He recently filed papers to modify visitation (like just a couple days ago) but he has some questions.

* Is there any possibility of him getting joint physical and legal custody with the kids/mom living 60 miles away?
* The mother says that the 2 year old can't go out of state until she is 3 years old (he lives right across the Ky/IN border so it's not like he wants to take her 1000 miles away, just 60) can she stop him from having the 2 year old out of Ky?
* Would a judge grant his request for 2-3 phone calls a week with the kids? At a reasonable time and length (like 5p-8p for up to 30 mins).
* As things are NOW before anything is changed, does he have the right to access the kids medical/daycare/school records and information? Paternity has been established.
* Would a judge allow them to claim one child each on taxes? (Like he would claim the 2 year old and she could claim the 5 year old)
* When a child wants to live with the non-custodial parent does the judge take that into account or is it more like the child can decide when he/she is 18? (He wants to know for the future, not for now)
* Is there anything he can do about her talking badly about him to the kids? The two year old doesn't really understand yet, but the 5 year old does. She tells them that their dad doesn't see them because he doesn't love them and that he doesn't pay child support. No 5 year old should hear that about their parent.

Thank you in advance!

They are/were not married, right?

Are there ANY custody orders in place yet?

No never married, no current custody orders only child support.

Whether or not the judge in your brother's case would grant any of his modification request would hinge on the specific facts of his case. In other words, while judges have general guidelines that they follow in child custody cases, they usually assess what to do on a case by case basis.

Generally though, the distance between ex-spouse can negatively effect a joint custody request outcome. The rule is typically the further away, the least likely it will happen.

There's no age restriction on when a child can leave a state.

As far as phone calls, they're usually granted since they are considered less burdensome to accommodate, but again it's a case by case basis.

While judges may take into account who a child wants to live with, typically this isn't given as much weight because the judge is more concerned with ensuring the child lives with the best parent, not the most liked/fun.

Okay, so Mom has status quo on her side.

He's not likely getting 50/50 placement for this reason alone, and also because he's 60 miles away. Joint legal custody is absolutely possible (if not likely).

There's nothing in the statute preventing Mom from allowing Dad to take the kids over state lines, but at the moment with no visitation order she doesn't have to allow any access at all. Given their ages, he should expect to be visiting in Mom's community at least for a short while.

A 30 minute phone call isn't likely to be fun for kids that young, and nor for Dad. I'm not saying he can't ask for it, but he shouldn't expect it.

Yes, as the legal parent, he has the right to medical and school information.

He can ask that the court allows him to claim one child on taxes but given that he doesn't actually meet the IRS guidelines, he shouldn't expect that either unless Mom agrees.

In KY, kids choose when they're 18. If they were older, being that this is an initial custody determination, their wishes might carry some (if not considerable) weight. As it is, they won't even be asked.

Yes, he can request a "non-disparagement" clause be added, which means neither parent is allowed to speak badly about the other. However this is often virtually impossible to enforce.

I'm curious though as to how the conversation with the 5 year old starts. What exactly is he asking?