Joint Custody Laws and Policies in the Fifty States: A Summary Memorandum

From the introduction:

• This Memorandum summarizes the legal principles that guide courts in the determination of joint custody issues throughout the United States. 
• It was originally prepared for the AFCC Think Tank on Closing the Gap: Research, Practice, Policy and Shared Parenting, held in Chicago, Illinois on Jan. 24-26, 2013. 
• The Memorandum is intended to provide the statutory and case law context for joint custody determinations as an aid in considering some of the contemporary parenting controversies for divorcing, separated, and never-married parents. 
• It analyzes principles at play in the United States; the authors will present a similar summary of the joint custody doctrines and practices in selected Anglophone countries at a later time.