Sole custody occurs when one parent is not involved, i.e., prison, or suffers from mental incapacity. Divided custody means that one child lives with one parent and another child with the other. Each party has visitation with the child in the custody of the other. It is used in exceptional cases. Non-parental custody can be granted temporarily if the court believes the parents are unfit or that the child is in need of care and an action will be filed pursuant to the Kansas Code for the Care of Children.
Grandparent placement is non-parental custody.
The trial judge has broad discretion to award custody according to the child's best interests. Neither the mother nor the father is preferred because of sex. Each case is reviewed on its own facts according to child's best interests. If the child is a teenager, the judge may be willing to consider the child's wishes as to residence and the child's reasons. There is no specific age when a child gets to decide where they live, but generally, the older the child, the more weight that child's desires are given by the court.