Modern families have changed, so does that mean how courts determine child custody should change, too? Today, it is understood that both parents are equally important to their children’s development and well-being. When some parents ultimately decide to divorce or end their relationship, this new outlook has resulted in the courts increasing embrace of 50/50 shared parenting time as a default custody arrangement. 

This practice of equal parenting time is now so common that it has brought us to a legal crossroads: Is it time to make shared custody a rebuttable presumption in child custody cases?