Does joint custody work? A first look at outcome data of relitigation

Joint custody, with both divorced parents sharing childrearing functions, is a recent and controversial phenomenon. To the authors' knowledge there have been no published quantitative outcome studies establishing its efficacy. The authors present data on 414 consecutive custody cases in a Los Angeles court over a 2-year period, comparing relitigation rates (indicative of postdivorce parental conflict) of exclusive and joint custody. In those cases which were returns to court, the proportion of relitigation for joint custody families was one-half that of exclusive custody families, suggesting that joint custody is a more beneficial arrangement in terms of reduced parental conflict.