Child Custody Changes

Child custody disputes are by nature emotionally charged, but a new state law that goes into effect
later this month introduces several changes into the system that could ease the pain for Pennsylvania families as they break up.
      
The Legislature, during November's lame duck session, approved new custody rules, the last chapter of what has been a decade-long effort.

"If the process isn't fair, the parents continue to do battle, and the child is scarred as a result of that,'' said Senate Judiciary Chairman Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, who pushed for
the revisions. "The quicker we can resolve these issues, the less trauma is inflicted upon the child.''
      
Family law attorneys and judges around the state are currently familiarizing themselves with changes that are designed to improve fairness and transparency in a process that, for many people, will be their only direct contact with the judicial system.

"It's not a magic bullet, and there's nothing more grueling and emotional than a custody trial,'' said Norristown attorney Cheryl L. Young, who chairs the state bar association's family law
section. "Hopefully some of this will allow more parents to settle.''
      
Judges are now required to state on the record their reasons for making decisions, which some consider the most significant change.

"Some judges would be very clear and others would just enter an order, 'Granted,' 'Dismissed,' or 'Here's your custody order,''' Young said. "Now they understand at least what the judge was
thinking.''
      
Custodial parents who want to move away will have to give the other parent a chance to object beforehand, closing a gap in existing law that caused repeated problems, said Maria Cognetti, a Camp Hill lawyer who spent years working on the legislation for the Joint State Government Commission.

"As much as I've very successfully brought relocation cases for my clients who want to move, I'm very much against the 'I found a new boyfriend on the Internet and I'm moving to California' move,'' Cognetti said.

The law states that neither the father nor the mother should be automatically assumed to be the more appropriate custodial parent, which does not change existing law but highlights it with stronger
language. Some fathers' rights advocates had pushed for a presumption of joint custody, a proposal that did not make it into the new law.

"The fathers' groups always felt, fairly or unfairly, that the presumption was with the mother,'' said Gregg Warner, Senate Judiciary counsel. "So this legislation tried to make it clear that the judge should start with no presumption.''

Two provisions that drew concern from judges dealt with the role of 'guardian ad litem' attorneys who are sometimes appointed by judges in complicated cases. They will now be required to submit written reports, and there are tougher new rules about how judges should evaluate criminal convictions of members of the child's household.

The statute lists factors judges have to consider in awarding custody, including who is more likely to encourage contact with the other parent, stability in the child's life, sibling relationships, level of conflict and parental drug and alcohol use.

The law allows judges to order both parents to submit parenting plans ahead of time, a procedure already used in other states and in some parts of Pennsylvania, and which should streamline cases and keep the focus on children's needs.

"Don't do what's best for you, and I know this is hard, do what's best for the child even if you don't like it,'' said state Supreme Court Justice Max Baer, who handled custody cases during a decade on the family court bench in Allegheny County. "It makes parents sit down and focus on the realities of the scenario.'

Baer considers the new law a clear step forward in an area of the law that can always use improvement.

"The state is a terrible parent, I'm the first to tell you that. And a judge is a terrible parent,'' Baer said. "In the five minutes that this dysfunctional couple is in my courtroom, or even the half-day that they're in the courtroom, I can't know enough of the nuances to parent the child. And yet they want you to.''

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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