Lay judgments about child custody after divorce.

Abstract

In a pair of studies, we examine lay people's judgments about how hypothetical cases involving child custody after divorce should be resolved. The respondents were citizens called to jury service in Pima County, AZ. Study 1 found that both male and female respondents, if they were the judge, would most commonly award equally shared custody arrangements, as advocated by most fathers' groups. However, if the predivorce child care had been divided disproportionately between the parents, this preference shifted, slightly but significantly, toward giving more time to the parent who had provided most of that care, consistent with the Approximation Rule advocated by the American Law Institute. Moreover, respondents judged that the arrangements prevailing in today's court and legal environment would award equal custody considerably less often, and would thereby provide much less parenting time to fathers, than the respondents themselves would award. Study 2 found that respondents maintained their strong preference for equally shared custody even when there are very high levels of parental conflict for which the parents were equally to blame, but awarded substantially less time to the culpable parent when only one was the primary instigator of the parental conflict. 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, and suggests that family law may have a public relations problem.

Shared Parenting After Divorce: A Review of Shared Residential Parenting Research

“…In a 2004 nonbinding ballot election in Massachusetts, 85% of the voters (530,000 people) said that children should live with each parent equally after divorce (Fatherhood Coalition, 2004). Other surveys in Arizona of college students and other adults also found that 80% to 90 % believe in shared residential parenting after divorce (Braver, Ellman, Votruba, & Fabricius, 2011). In an even more recent survey of 375 people who had been called for jury duty, 67% said they favored shared residential parenting .…”

Le meilleur intérêt de l’enfant dont la garde est contestée : enjeux, contexte et pratiques

“…Dans le même ordre d'idées, une recherche (Braver et al, 2011) montre que la population en général croit majoritairement que le système de justice est biaisé en faveur des mères. Selon Braver et ses collaborateurs, cette perception pourrait avoir un impact sur les ententes que les parents prennent à la suite d'une séparation en évaluant la probabilité de gagner leur cause s'ils se présentent en cour.…”

“…Il y a fort à parier que le modèle de pérennité a pris davantage d'importance, c'est du moins le point de vue d'auteurs qui soulèvent l'existence d'un courant fort en faveur de la garde partagée dans la jurisprudence (Goubau, 2003;Tétrault, 2006). Ce mouvement semble aller de pair avec l'opinion générale de la population (Braver et al, 2011;Saint-Jacques et al, 2013). En effet, un sondage représentatif de la population du Québec révèle un appui très majoritaire à la garde partagée après une séparation pour les enfants âgés de plus de deux ans (SaintJacques et al, 2013).…”

Impacto de la ley de custodia compartida de la Comunidad Valenciana en las modificaciones de medida

“…En relación a esto, se puede apreciar que es el varón el que los inicia en mayor medida en comparación con la mujer tanto en 2011, como en 2012. Estos resultados se justifican porque mediante estas modificaciones (realizadas en mayor medida cuando existen hijos/as), se pretende variar sobre todo sentencias relativas a los derechos y deberes para con los regímenes de convivencia de los menores (De Blasio y Vuri, 2013); que hasta no hace mucho tiempo se fallaban en mayor medida a favor de la madre (Bauserman, 2002;Braver, Ellman, Votruba y Fabricius, 2011;Fabricius, Braver, Diaz, y Velez, 2010;Ordóñez y Couto, 2012). Por otra parte, se destaca también el ligero aumento de la presentación conjunta de esta demanda de modificación de medidas.…”