In comparison to children in sole custody arrangements, children in
joint custody arrangements who spend at least 35 percent of their time with each of their parents enjoy the following benefits:
Not exact matches
Children
who are the subject of a
custody dispute or a
joint custody arrangement may not obtain a United States passport without the consent of both parents.
A
joint child
custody arrangement may be difficult for a child
who has to shuffle between two households on a regular basis.
Parents
who are interested in winning
joint physical
custody should be clear about what kind of
joint physical
custody arrangement is requested.
Traditionally, when a
joint custody arrangement is ordered, children are the ones
who get shuffled back and forth between their parents» homes.
While parents
who have a shared parenting
arrangement will also generally have
joint custody, the reverse is not always true:
joint custody is often ordered in the absence of shared parenting.
Teachers and other third parties report that children in
joint custody arrangements are better adjusted than children
who only have visitation with their non-custodial parent.
Parents also reported higher satisfaction with
joint custody arrangements, and parents
who were ordered to pay child support were more likely to do so when they shared
custody of their children.
In
joint legal
custody arrangements, noncustodial parents may be more likely to pay child support than parents
who do not have
joint legal
custody of their children.
Children
who are the subject of a
custody dispute or a
joint custody arrangement may not obtain a United States passport without the consent of both parents.
In a study of twenty - four highly motivated California families
who pioneered
joint custody on their own prior to the law's express authorization of
joint custody, while most children adjusted, twenty - five percent were confused and unhappy because of the demands of living in two households and remained stressed by the living
arrangements.
In
joint legal
custody arrangements, the parent
who is the primary physical custodian may relocate with the child but must file a move - away petition with the court.
Fathers in
joint custody arrangements pay approximately 14 percent of their net income in contrast to sole
custody fathers
who are required to pay 26 percent.
However, the above study used a ridiculously tiny sample of 14 children
who reported spending more time with their fathers in
joint custody arrangements.
These groups seek to regain control over spouses
who are divorcing them, usually through forced marriage counseling or enacting extreme economic penalties for filing for divorce, including loss of
custody, loss of marital assets, and forced
joint physical
custody arrangements where the child is shuffled between incongruent households so that the father can avoid paying child support.
While a number of researchers purport to have found relitigation rates lower following mediated decisions, or (primarily in early studies) in
joint custody arrangements, not one of these studies appears to have corrected for (in the first case) the reality that negotiated agreements are not as legally amenable to modification as court orders, or (in both cases) that couples
who achieved accord in mediation, as well as those
who voluntarily chose early
joint custody arrangements were already relatively more amicable couples.
[FN51] Rather than codify the practice of awarding
joint custody to parties
who agree to such an
arrangement, the new law creates a presumption that shifts the focus away from the child, despite the childrearing problems inherent in parental discord, and toward the parents.
Some teenagers
who live with
joint physical
custody arrangements have been doing so since they were young.
[FN68] Parents
who might otherwise raise good faith objections to the wisdom of a
joint custody * 785
arrangement may remain silent if raising such objections could potentially result in loss of
custody entirely.
Another example raises the question of what influences advocacy, this one from a woman lawyer and AFCC activist
who inexplicably lobbies for
joint custody and father's rights (and more therapeutic jurisprudence in the courts) even though the
arrangement worked for neither herself as a child, nor, ultimately, her own daughter: [ANONYMOUS LISTSERVE COMMENT]: «In personal life, we learn things about the day to day realities too, that influence the lenses through which we see life.
Michigan law provides that a parent
who is subject to a
joint child
custody arrangement may not move more than 100 miles from his or her current home without the consent of the other parent or the approval of the court.
A parent
who was advocating a shared parenting or
joint custody arrangement would not want to choose an assessor
who had never recommended
joint custody.