Court Opinion

ID: 9586875
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:16:02.819959+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:54.586483
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Justice,
concurring specially.
I fully concur in the majority opinion. I write only to elaborate on the mediation that is required on remand.
In addition to the references given in the majority opinion describing the process of mediation in divorce, I refer the parties and the trial court to J. Folberg and A. Milne, Divorce Mediation: Theory and Practice (The Guilford Press 1988). This thoughtful and informative book is a comprehensive introduction to the process by which professional mediators assist divorcing couples to reach their own agreements concerning the most important result of their marriage — their children. I also recommend to the parties and the trial court a viewing of the video tape entitled “In the Best Interest of the Child.” This video tape was produced by the Administrative Office of the Courts of Idaho and features Judge Patricia G. Young, Magistrate of the Fourth Judicial District, interviewing Dr. Judith Wallerstein, a leading authority on the use of mediation in resolving issues relating to children in divorce cases.
I also offer to the parties a portion of one of the articles in Divorce Mediation:
The legal adversarial system asks, “Who will be awarded custody of the minor children?” The result is that the parent who is not awarded custody is then labeled a noncustodial, visiting parent. In many ways, this question is much like the law school professor’s example of an inappropriate leading question, the most famous of which is, “When did you stop beating your wife?” Just as the wife-beating question assumes an answer by the way it is asked, the usual custody question assumes that it is necessary to determine two levels of “ownership” of the minor children. This is absurd, because the question of ownership need not even be asked; the focus should be establishing the parenting obligations that must be practiced in the future by the spouses.
A more appropriate question to ask the divorcing couple is, “What future parenting arrangements can you agree to, so that each of you can continue to be involved, loving parents?” This version of *302the custody question creates a different focus and a very different outcome. First, the question is mutual, and answering it requires cooperation. Asking “Who shall have custody?” creates a competitive focus and is likely to produce an adversarial or fighting- response, but asking the couple to agree to create certain parenting arrangements requires collaborative discussions and mutual planning.
Second, the question is future oriented. Mediation pushes couples to look more to the future because it can be controlled and changed. When the mediator asks a future-oriented, mutual question, couples find it easier to work through the difficult task of being two parents living in different houses.
Id., S. Erickson, “The Legal Dimension of Divorce Mediation,” at 105, 108-09.
My hope for the parties is that they will enter into the required mediation with a desire to resolve the conflict over custody in this case in a way that will be to the best interest of the children and, ultimately, themselves.