As archaic as it may sound, in the not too distant past - the preference was for the court to award primary child custody to the mother and "weekend visitation" to the the father. This model has been seriously eroded in the past 10 years or so, but still exists in many places. A recent study found, though, that the general public favors joint custody (also known in Florida as equal time-sharing), with parents sharing equally splitting the children's available time. Courts that continue to award primary custody to mothers automatically, without a good hard look at rotating custody or equal time-sharing, are going to find themselves increasingly at odds with the desires of society, the authors of the study concluded.
The researchers looked at polls and ballot initiatives and found that there was consistent public support for equal child custody. In addition, the researchers surveyed people about their feelings on child custody, and found that there was a strong preference for dividing a child's time equally between both parents.
Perhaps surprisingly, people who responded to the survey felt that equal parenting time was appropriate even in cases where there was a high level of conflict between the parents. The probably had more to do with "custodial parent" not being able to use the child as a pawn or weapon against the other parent.
Lead author Sanford L. Braver said, "The striking degree to which the public favors equal custody combined with their view that the current court system under-awards parenting time to fathers could account for past findings that the system is seriously slanted toward mothers."
The Arizona State University researchers noted an interesting aspect of the survey in which responders still preferred a 50-50 split even in hypothetical cases where the mother had provided 75% of the child care duties before the divorce, and in hypothetical cases where fathers had provided 75% of the child care pre-divorce.
If you are thinking about divorce or facing a family law related matter, please see our website for more information on your legal options or call Ocala Divorce and Family Law attorney at the Law Office of Anne E. Raduns, PA to find out how we can help. We employ a client based approach, which means that we are selective in the cases we take so that we can be available to our clients. We spend time with you to thoroughly understand the facts of your case, so that we can provide you with a comprehensive and realistic legal evaluation. Our process begins with a half-hour low-cost consultation. Call for your appointment today.
