House Bill 1662 would create a legal presumption that joint custody with equal parenting time is in a child's best interest. Before the House adopted the bill’s conference report Tuesday, some lawmakers argued that starting point may be a poor fit for some children.
“We're talking about breastfeeding babies just coming home from the hospital, Rep. Dana McLean, R-Columbus, said. “I know that the best interest of an infant would be to be with their mother.”
Rep. Joey Hood, R-Ackerman, pushed back, arguing the bill simply changes where custody cases begin, not where the facts of each case will lead judges.
“We have not precluded our Chancellor from doing what is in the interest of the child,” Hood said. “What we're doing is we're saying we're starting this procedure off 50-50.”
Under current Mississippi law, judges deciding custody cases weigh a long list of factors known as the Albright factors. Those include the age of the child, who has been the primary caregiver, each parent's work schedule and stability, the child's ties to school and community and the physical and mental health of each parent.
Judge Rhea Sheldon, the senior chancellor for Mississippi's 10th Chancery District, said each custody case is unique and highly fact-specific. She also said a new presumption would not change the core question judges are trying to answer.
"The best interest of the child is our pole star consideration in every custody and visitation case," Sheldon said…. “I think that that will not change regardless of whether there is a presumption of joint custody," she said.
Still, Sheldon said changing the starting point of a case could affect how often parents settle the issue outside a courtroom and how they argue their cases when they don’t. She said custody cases often involve circumstances that can make a 50-50 arrangement unrealistic or unsafe.
"Familial or domestic violence, addiction-related issues, employment responsibilities, the lack of an ability for the parents to actually communicate and co-parent together," Sheldon said, listing some of the factors that can complicate a custody case.
The conference report approved by both chambers is slightly narrower than earlier versions of the bill debated this session.
Negotiators removed language that would have changed child support calculations. Instead, the bill largely keeps the current system, where support is based on the difference between the parents' incomes.
If Gov. Tate Reeves signs the bill or allows it to become law without his signature, it would apply only to new custody cases filed after July 1.
