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Nebraska Activists Push for Presumption of Equal Timesharing by Both Parents

By Janet Langjahr

Some Nebraska legislators are working to change the state’s child custody laws.

Current law is couched in terms of the best interests of the children.

But some say that test leads to conflict … and the court unnecessarily inquiring into which parent is the better parent.

Advocates for changing the law contend that current law almost always translates into the mother being awarded primary custody in Nebraska.

Proposed legislation would presume that both parents are equally fit and presume that both parents should have equal decision-making and equal timesharing with their children.

That means that if one parent is not fit for equal timesharing, the burden is on the other parent to prove it, sometimes by clear and convincing evidence. Almost as tough as proving beyond a reasonable doubt, the state’s burden in criminal cases.

Proponents of the bill favor both parents being able to share their children.

The proposed legislation is not expected to pass anytime soon.

Although fathers’ rights groups tend to favor such legislation, advocates against domestic violence maintain that such laws too often place children in the custody of abusers.

This same battle is or has been fought in a number of other states.

Read more in this Nebraska TV article: State Child Custody Law: 50-50 Split?.

Full post as published by Florida Divorce - Child Custody - Domestic Abuse Law on May 10, 2009 (boomark / email).