The Minnesota House recently passed a shared parenting bill which has a presumption of at least 45.1% of the parenting time with each parent.  This presumption can be overcome by certain factors.   Attorney Robert Franklin has written an editorial supporting the bill and calling on the Senate and Governor to pass it as well. A similar movement has been trying to get presumptions of shared physical custody passed in Massachusetts, and we reviewed these proposals in our series on Custody Reform . Custody Reform should be based on evidence about what defaults are in the best interest of children. There is evidence of a shift in our society to greater parenting involvement of fathers, but the available evidence is still strongly in favor of very young children spending more time with their mother. Frequent contact with both parents is necessary at a very young age, but equal time doesn't take into account the realities of the unusual feeding and sleeping schedule that newbo...

There are currently six pending bills which would make significant changes to the current Massachusetts custody statute and they have all been reviewed in depth in this forum over the last few weeks. If you need a quick cheat sheet for how they compare, below you will find a table that summarizes the proposed changes in each bill. For our recommendations, keep reading after the table. Current Law Proposed Bill Proposed Change P1 – P5 Definitions of Custody S.659 Shared physical custody definition changed to state “child shall reside equally”, and adds definition of “parenting plan”. S.847 Definitions Deleted Entirely H.1306 & H. 2684 No Change H.1330 H.2244 P6 – Rights of Parents held equal absent misconduct. Court shall consider adverse effects of past or present living situation. S.659 Delete Paragraph Entir...

HO1330 is the third House bill which proposes to make amendments to the current custody statute. This proposal was filed in the House on January 21, 2011 and referred to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary on January 24, 2011. H.2244 – Legislation relative to the rights of parents in child custody proceedings. This proposed bill is split into seven sections, each one making a specific amendment to one paragraph of the current bill. The clear trend of this proposal is a focus on parent's rights instead of the "best interest of the child" standard. Section 1 deletes paragraph 6 of the current statute. First off, this means that the definitions of custody are kept in tact. Instead of considering the happiness and welfare, and past and present living situations, though, this proposal would have the court consider the following factors when determining custody: Section 31 of Chapter 208 of the General Laws, as appearing in the most recent edition, is her...

HO1330 is the second House bill which proposes to make amendments to the current custody statute. This proposal was also filed in the House on January 20, 2011 and referred to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary on January 24, 2011. H.1330 – Legislation relative to the determination of the legal custody of children in court cases. Unlike the first House bills we reviewed (H.1306) , this proposal doesn't change the best interest standard, but still adds a presumption of temporary shared physical custody. This bill begins by deleting the current statute and replacing it entirely, however much of the text remains the same. The definitions of custody remain in the proposed bill, as does the presumption of temporary shared legal custody. The bill adds the "rights of the parents" to the factors that the court should consider in creating parenting plans. The proposal keeps the language allowing the Judge to consider adverse affects of the past or present livin...