Right of First Refusal in Wyoming Custody Orders

Your co-parent is dropping the kids off at their mother's house every other Saturday afternoon so they can run errands for hours. You are available. You would want that time. And yet nobody asked you. The right of first refusal (ROFR) is a parenting plan clause designed to prevent exactly this situation — giving you the opportunity to care for your child before a third party does.

What Right of First Refusal Means

A right of first refusal clause requires one parent to offer the other parent parenting time before arranging third-party childcare. If Parent A needs to be away from the child for a specified period during their custodial time, they must first ask Parent B whether they want to take the child. Only if Parent B declines (or does not respond within a set timeframe) can Parent A arrange alternative care — a babysitter, a grandparent, or another family member.

Wyoming does not require ROFR by statute. It is an optional provision that parents can include in their parenting plan or that the court can order. Whether it belongs in your plan depends on your family's dynamics, and the details of how you structure the clause matter more than whether you include it at all.

When ROFR Makes Sense

ROFR works best when both parents genuinely want to maximize their time with the child and can communicate cooperatively about scheduling. It serves parents who:

• Live close enough to each other that a mid-schedule exchange is logistically feasible
• Have flexible work schedules that allow them to respond to care opportunities
• Want to ensure the child spends time with a parent rather than a non-family caregiver whenever possible
• Are able to communicate respectfully about scheduling changes without turning each request into a conflict

When ROFR Creates Problems

In high-conflict co-parenting situations, ROFR can become a weapon rather than a tool. The clause requires ongoing communication and cooperation, and parents who struggle with those basics may find ROFR generates more disputes than it resolves:

• Surveillance tool. A parent uses ROFR notifications to monitor the other parent's schedule, social life, and activities during their custodial time.
• Gatekeeping. A parent invokes ROFR strategically to interfere with the other parent's ability to take a vacation, go on a date, or have normal adult activities.
• Notification wars. Disagreements about whether the triggering threshold was met (exactly how many hours were away?), whether the notification was timely, or whether the refusal was genuine.

If your co-parenting relationship is already strained, think carefully before insisting on ROFR. A parallel parenting plan with minimal communication requirements may serve your child's stability better than a clause that demands frequent, cooperative exchanges.

Structuring the Clause

If you include ROFR, make the terms specific enough to enforce without judicial interpretation:

Time threshold. Define how long the parent must be away before ROFR is triggered. Common thresholds are 4, 6, or 8 hours. A 4-hour threshold applies to daytime outings and evening events; a 6- or 8-hour threshold limits ROFR to overnight absences or full-day situations. Lower thresholds generate more notifications.

Notification method and timeline. Specify how the parent requests ROFR (text, email, or co-parenting app) and how much advance notice is required (e.g., "at least 24 hours before the absence begins, except in emergencies"). Also specify how quickly the other parent must respond — a 2-hour response window is common. If they do not respond within the window, it is treated as a declination.

Exemptions. Common exemptions include: the child is already being watched by a close family member (grandparent, step-parent who resides in the home), the absence is for a work commitment during normal work hours and the child is in their regular daycare or school, or the child is attending a scheduled activity (sports practice, music lesson). Without clear exemptions, every school day and every hour at a regular babysitter technically triggers ROFR — which is almost certainly not what either parent intends.

Transportation. Specify who is responsible for getting the child to the ROFR parent. Typically, the parent invoking ROFR handles drop-off and the responding parent handles pick-up, or vice versa. If this is not defined, disagreements about who drives will undermine the clause.

ROFR and Child Support

ROFR does not directly affect child support calculations. Even if ROFR shifts some additional time to the non-custodial parent, the overnight count for child support purposes is based on the court-ordered schedule, not on ROFR-triggered bonus time. If exercising ROFR consistently pushes the non-custodial parent above the 92-overnight threshold for the shared custody support formula under Wyo. Stat. § 20-2-304(c), that is a separate conversation about modifying the support order — not an automatic adjustment.

Including ROFR in Your Parenting Plan

If both parents agree to ROFR, include it as a clearly written section of the parenting plan with all the specifics above. If you are requesting ROFR over the other parent's objection, you will need to demonstrate to the court why it serves the child's best interests — typically by showing that the child would benefit from spending time with a parent rather than a third-party caregiver, and that the clause can be implemented without generating additional parental conflict.

The Wyoming Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide includes a sample ROFR clause template with configurable time thresholds, exemption categories, and notification procedures that you can adapt to your family's circumstances before inserting it into your parenting plan.

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