Will There Be a Custody Battle in a Kardashian-West Divorce?

What to Expect Regarding Child Custody for Kim Kardashian and Kanye West?

It is a new year and there will be new divorces for many couples.  Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have announced that they will likely get a divorce, and one wonders: how will a judge decide child custody in their situation? 

We must disclose that neither Kim nor Kanye hired Kraayeveld Law, nor do any of our family law attorneys regularly hang out with them. This blog is based on widely published and commonly known information about both parents.

What the Court Will Consider When Determining Custody 

Each state has its own laws on how to establish child custody.  For example, Michigan law requires a judge to review 12 best interest factors.  Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s home state likely will have a similar law. 

When determining what is in a child’s best interest, a judge must look at the parents’ present circumstances.  In other words, a parent may have exhibited exemplary parenting skills ten years ago, but during the past decade, the parent increasingly made poor choices and is now unable to financially and emotionally raise a child into adulthood.  For these reasons, parents should not agree to child custody arrangements in their prenuptial agreements or any other written contracts.

Thus, there likely is no enforceable contract that sets forth the West and Kardashian children’s custody and the parties will need to negotiate which custody arrangement is best for the children and a judge must approve their agreement.  If they cannot agree, a judge will decide what child custody arrangement is best for the children.

A competent child custody attorney will enter negotiations anticipating possible findings by the assigned judge if the case goes to trial. 

Undoubtedly, Kim and Kanye have very busy lives, but the judge will still determine which parent spent time to provide the children with the love and emotional support to allow them to flourish during childhood. 

Similarly, a judge will determine each parent’s emotional and mental stability to provide children with the guidance to become competent adults. Celebrities are not exempt from this close scrutiny. 

Kim or Kanye: Providing for the Best Interests of Their Children

Each state has its own best interest factors, but all states have one thing in common:  the goal is to determine what is best for the children. To learn more about Michigan’s best interest factors, browse some of our blogs and our website.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West live a very different life compared to most West Michigan parents.  However, Kim and Kanye and West Michigan parents both will benefit from negotiating a child custody arrangement and visitation plan instead of litigating their disputes and having a judge decide their children’s lives.  Parents who are willing to co-parent during the divorce will likely co-parent about the children’s extracurricular activities, the individual parenting styles, and when the children get in trouble, which will more likely allow the children to become stable and responsible adults.

If you have questions about possible child custody and parenting time arrangements, give the divorce and child custody attorneys at Kraayeveld Law a call at 616-285-0808 or complete our contact form.