Last year, Kayden’s Law took effect in Pennsylvania, bringing about considerable changes in the way the courts handle child custody matters, primarily through added safeguards meant to protect children from potential harm. We discussed the protections implemented by Kayden’s Law earlier this year.

While Kayden’s Law addressed the substance of the law—the child custody statute—it offered no practical direction to courts across the state as to how their everyday practices should change. Those practices are governed by the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, which you can think of as sort of a giant instruction manual for using the court system. These rules are decided by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Different rules are updated every year, sometimes with published comments explaining the change.

This year, the section of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure dealing with child custody was amended for the purpose of comporting with Kayden’s Law. The new rules went into effect on July 1, 2025, although many counties had already begun changing some of their local procedures to conform.

The most impactful changes include the following:

• The checklist of criminal convictions and pending charges that must be disclosed by the parties to a custody action has been expanded to include several offenses that were added by Kayden’s Law. These include:
  o   simple assault
  o   recklessly endangering another person
  o   interfering with custody of children
  o   human trafficking, and
  o   several offenses relating to cruelty to animals.
• Litigants must disclose the names and dates of birth of all household members. Previously, that information was only requested in certain circumstances.
• The form that the litigants fill out regarding household members and criminal history is now treated as a confidential document, not accessible to the general public.
• A new form has been created for the judge or hearing officer to use, if they think it is warranted, to request information about the parties and their household members from the Office of Children, Youth and Families.

In addition to these changes to the rules, 2025 saw yet another law amending the custody statute. In contrast with the sweeping changes of last year’s Kayden’s Law, the new law changes only one section of the statute - 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 5328 – which lists the factors that must be considered by the court when making a custody determination. Previously, the court had to analyze a cumbersome and disjointed list of 16 factors, some of which overlapped to varying degrees. The revised section does not actually make any material changes to the required considerations, but merges and streamlines them into a more efficient list of 11 factors. It also requires courts to provide this list of factors to people who represent themselves in custody court.

If you have questions about how any of these changes might affect you, you should consult with an attorney about how they might apply to the specific circumstances of your case.