Response to CLT Board: Why Connecticut Legislators Should Approve the Equal Shared Parenting Bill
By Don Hubin, Ph.d.
Law.com recently published an opinion piece by the Connecticut Law Tribune Editorial Board urging Connecticut legislators to vote againstSB1026,a bill that would establish a rebuttable presumption hat equal parenting time with each parentis in the best interest of children when parents separate. As the Chair of the National Board of National Parents Organization, which has championed similar legislation in a number of states, I wish to critically evaluate the CLT Editorial Board’s reasoning.
The board argues that SB1026,by presuming that “equal shared parenting time is in the best interest of the child will, based on the “plain meaning of the word ‘equal,’ require that “a judge must in every case first calculate the number of parenting hours available and then issue an order ‘equalizing’ the time allocated to each parent.”
This is a straw man argument. There are numerous states—including Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin—that require the equal division(not equitable division) of marital assets upon divorce. Using the reasoning of the CLT Editorial Board, these laws must be condemned on the grounds that, based on the plain meaning of the word “equal,” they require judges to calculate to the penny the marital assets and ensure mathematical equality in the division of property. ‘Equal’ has a very precise meaning in mathematics. But I doubt that any court in the states mentioned above applies that mathematical precision to the division of marital property. Nor need it be applied in domestic relations courts.
The image of a judge, in every case, having to carefully calculate the hours the children are with each parent is a compelling one. But it’s also imaginary. There are five states—Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, Florida and Missouri—that have adopted rebuttable presumptions that equal parenting time is in children’s best interest. In none of these states have domestic relations courts ground to a halt because judges were burning the midnight oil calculating parenting hours. Indeed, for the states that we have data on, the percent of divorce cases where custody of children is contested has declined, relieving these courts of some of their burden.
