angiEmedia

This video clip is from video testimony of Sandy Keith, former Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court for 8 years in the 1990s. Judge Keith supports shared parenting. The video was prepared as a statement of support for Colorado legislation providing for a rebuttable presumption that custody of children should be shared between parents.

Unfortunately, the legislation didn’t pass. It apparently was defeated by the divorce lobby and nonsensical financial projections.

Judge Keith believes that presumed shared parenting would be beneficial to families and children and reduce litigation:

“It is difficult for me to see how one can come up with these figures” on probable impact of the bill. “I believe this presumption (in favor of shared parenting) will help settle at least 25 to 30 percent of all child custody cases. The attorneys will begin to concentrate on how these two parents will parent their children in two separate homes instead of trying to prove who is the better parent. I rarely had a contested custody case in which both parents weren’t good parents and that is why they were contesting custody. I have been involved in over 1,200 divorces. This bill is a step in the right direction.”

Further Reading

Former State Supreme Court Chief Judge Endorses Shared Parenting

Colorado’s latest shared parenting Bill, House Bill 02-1190

Denver Post: A good bill was ambushed

Minnesota Reviews Child Custody Laws

Petition to Support Equal Shared Parenting as Worldwide Legal Standard