Opinion ID: 2117648
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Heading: Joint CustodyBackground

Text: Initially, we must consider the ramifications of joint custody. These questions arise: What is joint custody? What is the significance of recent legislation permitting joint custody? How is joint custody viewed by courts, commentators and experts in the field of divorce? Joint custody reposes in both parents legal responsibility for the care of their children and alternates the physical custody. Bodenheimer, Progress Under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act and Remaining Problems: Punitive Decrees, Joint Custody, and Excessive Modifications, 65 Calif. L.Rev. 978, 1009-10 (1977). Research reveals that joint custody is generally treated as synonymous with divided custody. Braiman v. Braiman, 44 N.Y.2d 584, 589, 407 N.Y.S.2d 449, 450, 378 N.E.2d 1019, 1020 (1978); Bodenheimer, supra at 1009. One author, however, has distinguished joint from divided custody. Joint custody, he asserts, involves each parent's having joint control over the care, upbringing and education of the children, even though the children reside most of the year with one parent, while divided custody involves each parent's having the children for a part of the year with control over the children only when in his or her custody. 1 A. Lindey, Separation Agreements and Ante-Nuptial Contracts 14-60 (rev. ed. 1978). We will treat the terms joint custody and divided custody as synonymous because in each such custody arrangement, regardless of the label it is given, both parents share in the legal responsibility for care and alternate in custodial companionship. And each such custody arrangement when contested, whether described as joint or divided, must withstand scrutiny on its terms and conditions. We must also determine the significance of recent legislation, relied upon by trial court, which permits joint custody of children in dissolution cases. See note 2 supra. The courts of this state have long been charged by statute with the duty of fixing custody. See Zuver v. Zuver, 36 Iowa 190, 194-95 (1873). This duty would imply the power to order joint custody when justified. Braiman, 44 N.Y.2d at 589, 407 N.Y.S.2d at 450, 378 N.E.2d at 1020; see Annot., 92 A.L.R.2d 695, 700 (1963). Prior to the recent amendment to section 598.21, joint, or divided, custody was never forbidden by statute. Thus, the legislature has now simply placed its imprimatur upon joint custody. This court historically has opposed divided custody, except under the most unusual circumstances. McCrery v. McCrery, 258 Iowa 354, 358, 138 N.W.2d 876, 878 (1965); see Mason v. Zolnosky, 251 Iowa 983, 988, 103 N.W.2d 752, 755 (1960). Reasons cited for opposition include that divided custody is destructive of discipline, Maron v. Maron, 238 Iowa 587, 590-91, 28 N.W.2d 17, 19 (1947); that it tends to induce a feeling of not belonging to either parent, Huston v. Huston, 255 Iowa 543, 552-53, 122 N.W.2d 892, 898 (1963); and that in some instances it permits one parent to sow seeds of discontent concerning the other, which can result in a spirit of dissatisfaction in the children and their rebellion against authority, Bennett v. Bennett, 200 Iowa 415, 418, 203 N.W. 26, 27 (1925). Courts in many states have shared this reluctance to divide custody, declaring that divided custody is to be avoided as not in the best interests of the children and that it will be sanctioned only under exceptional circumstances. See, e. g., Utley v. Utley, 364 A.2d 1167, 1170 (D.C.App.1976) (A happy and normal family life is often impossible of accomplishment when a child of tender years is subjected to the frustrating experience of divided custody especially when in the process he is shifted from home to home, from city to city, or from one family environment to another.); Lewis v. Lewis, 217 Kan. 366, 372, 537 P.2d 204, 209 (1975) (divided custody should be avoided whenever reasonably possible as the frequent shifting from one home environment to another could easily be detrimental to the emotional and physical well-being of any child); Knight v. Knight, 419 S.W.2d 159, 159 (Ky.1967) ([I]t is only necessary to say that such an arrangement would be greatly to the detriment of the children, because it would give them no fixed or permanent home, but rather keep them unsettled and on the move.) (quoting Towles v. Towles, 176 Ky. 225, 228, 195 S.W. 437, 438 (1917)); Holley v. Holley, 158 So.2d 620, 622 (La.Ct.App.1963) ([D]ivided custody is injurious to the welfare of children.); Dunavant v. Dunavant, 31 Tenn.App. 634, 647-48, 219 S.W.2d 910, 915 (1949) (So long as there is a divided custody there will probably be bickerings and disputes and a natural tendency on the part of the child to play one against the other, as well as for the claimants to seek by indulgences to curry favor with the child, if not to prejudice it against the other.); Ponder v. Rice, 479 S.W.2d 90, 94 (Tex.Civ.App.1972) (Another rule of law which is deeply imbedded in our system of jurisprudence is one which condemns a decree of divided custody.); Rickard v. Rickard, 7 Wash.App. 907, 911, 503 P.2d 763, 766 (1972) (divided custody can have serious detrimental effects to the welfare of children); see Annot. 92 A.L. R.2d 695 (1963). Experts in the field of divorce also have expressed opposition to joint or divided custody. It has been said that change and discontinuity threaten the child's emotional well-being; that joint custody requires the shuttling back and forth of children, leading to lack of stability in home environment; that children may become prey to severe and crippling loyalty conflicts. Dodd v. Dodd, 93 Misc.2d 641, 645-46, 403 N.Y. S.2d 401, 404 (Sup.Ct.1978) (citing J. Goldstein, A. Freud & J. Somit, Beyond the Best Interests of the Child 37-38 (1973) and 2 H. Foster & D. Freed, Law and the Family § 29.6A (Supp.1976)). [3] In recent years there has been greater advocacy of joint custody. Proponents believe that joint custody benefits everyone involved. Joint custody serves to relieve one parent of some of the stresses of full-time parenting, which might otherwise engender resentment towards the children. See Divided Custody, supra note 3, at 60-61. For the otherwise noncustodial parent, joint custody gives recognition for prior performance of the parental duties and prevents the termination of gratifying interpersonal relationships. Without this recognition of his or her right to and desire for continuing contacts, eventual loss of interest in the children by this parent may result. [4] See Dodd, 93 Misc.2d at 646, 403 N.Y.S.2d at 404; Annot., 92 A.L.R.2d 695, 705 (1963). Advocates of joint custody also believe that the involvement of both parents in the child's life promotes the best interests of the child. It exposes the child to the knowledge, skills, experiences and affection of one more caring adult. See Dodd, 93 Misc.2d at 646, 403 N.Y.S.2d at 404; Mullen v. Mullen, 188 Va. 259, 272, 49 S.E.2d 349, 355 (1948). One commentator has suggested that, psychologically, the children deprived of contact with one parent may suffer feelings of loss akin to mourning as well as uncertain or conflicting attitudes about men, who most often are the noncustodial parent. Divided Custody, supra note 3, at 59-62. Moreover, joint custody may mitigate the loss of security and feelings of rejection normally accompanying dissolution by approximating as closely as possible the former family relationship. See Braiman, 44 N.Y.2d at 591, 407 N.Y.S.2d at 452, 378 N.E.2d at 1022; Dodd, 93 Misc.2d at 645 & n.4, 403 N.Y.S.2d at 404 & n.4. Few courts completely reject divided custody as a matter of public policy. Foster & Freed, Joint Custody: A Viable Alternative ?, 15 Trial 26, 29 (May 1979). A number of courts have shown more tolerant, yet cautious, views towards joint custody. For example, in DeForest v. DeForest, 228 N.W.2d 919, 925 (N.D.1975), it was held that divided custody is not foreclosed by law if there is substantial evidence to support such a custodial arrangement. In Johnson v. Johnson, 526 S.W.2d 33 (Mo.App.1975), an order placing the custody of two young sons with their father, subject to weekend, certain holiday and summer vacations in the custody of their mother, was affirmed. In so doing, the Missouri Court of Appeals observed that the boys were doing well under the arrangement, that children should have the benefit of two parents, but it also opined that frequent shifts of custody would be detrimental to the children's stability. Id. at 37. That same court has been noted for shunning the language of divided or joint custody but, in effect, condoning similar custodial arrangements under the label of reasonable visitation. See In re Marriage of Powers, 527 S.W.2d 949, 952-53 (Mo.App.1975), noted in 42 Mo. L.Rev. 136 (1977). In Knight, cited above, the Kentucky court, although expressing disapproval of divided custody as a long-term proposition, accepted such an arrangement on a temporary basis. [5] Legal precedent and conflicting philosophies regarding joint custody notwithstanding, the ultimate determination still rests upon the best interests of the child. And those best interests must be founded upon the peculiar facts of each case. This has been nicely explained by Justice Shea in Dodd, 93 Misc.2d at 643, 403 N.Y.S.2d at 403: Joint custody is an appealing concept. It permits the Court to escape an agonizing choice, to keep from wounding the self-esteem of either parent and to avoid the appearance of discrimination between the sexes. Joint custody allows parents to have an equal voice in making decisions, and it recognizes the advantages of shared responsibility for raising the young. But serious questions remain to be answered. How does joint custody affect children? What are the factors to be considered and weighed? While the Court should not yield to the frivolous objections of one party, it must give thought to whether joint custody is feasible when one party is opposed and court intervention is needed to effectuate it. In the end, as in [e]very child custody decision, it is the welfare of the children which governs and each case will turn on its individual facts and circumstances.