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Child custody and relitigation: trends in a rural setting
B R Berger1, S Madakasira, V Roebuck
1Department of Psychiatric Medicine, East Carolina University School of Medicine, Greenville, N.C.
The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
|October 1, 1988
Summary
Joint custody awards are infrequent in rural North Carolina divorces. This study found no evidence that joint custody reduces post-divorce legal disputes compared to other custody arrangements.
Area of Science:
- Family Law
- Sociology of Law
- Child Psychology
Background:
- Child custody arrangements are a critical aspect of divorce proceedings.
- Understanding the long-term implications of different custody types is essential for legal and psychological support.
- Previous research has yielded mixed results on the effectiveness of joint custody.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the types of child custody awards in divorce cases.
- To examine the rates of post-divorce litigation associated with each custody type.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 884 divorce cases from a rural North Carolina county.
- Comparison of child custody award types.
- Examination of post-divorce litigation rates for each custody type.
Main Results:
- Joint custody awards were found to be infrequent.
- No significant advantage of joint custody over other forms of custody was observed regarding relitigation rates.
- The study did not reveal a lower incidence of post-divorce litigation for joint custody arrangements.
Conclusions:
- The findings suggest that joint custody is not commonly awarded in this specific rural North Carolina context.
- There is no demonstrated benefit of joint custody in reducing post-divorce legal disputes in this population.
- Further research may be needed to explore factors influencing custody award decisions and litigation rates.