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Lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee heard public response Wednesday to HB53, a bill by Rep. Patrick Sellers, D-Birmingham, to encourage joint child custody in divorce cases.
The bill creates a rebuttable presumption that joint physical custody of a child is in that child’s best interest with the exception of cases of domestic or family violence.
Mobile County Circuit Judge Michael Sherman of Mobile County said the bill makes it harder for judges to protect children and promote their welfare.
“It puts parents’ rights before children’s needs,” Sherman said. “This bill would treat nursing infants the same as a 6-year-old child with Asperger’s Syndrome the same as an 18-year-old that’s in college. It would presume for each of those people that they should have joint physical custody with their parents.”
Sherman said the presumption would also disregard the past caretaking relationships and emotional bonds the child has had with either parent and will ultimately lead to more conflict between parents.
“The exception is if there’s domestic violence; so what we already see is false claims of domestic violence being used to gain advantage in custody cases,” Sherman said. “If we now make it that the exception to joint custody is domestic violence, those false claims will go up.”
Hunter Weathers of the College Republican Federation of Alabama, said the bill does “not go far enough.”
“We believe child custody should start out at a 50-50 spot and let the presumption of evidence tilt the scales and let the judge decide which parent should have custody of the child,” Weathers said.
Sherman also brought up concerns that requiring judges to make specific findings of fact to overcome the presumption of joint custody could then enshrine parents’ faults in the public record, accessible by all citizens including the child whether at the time of the case or later in life.
Weathers argued that requiring those findings of fact to be made in the case file could help judges later if they need to modify custody arrangements.
No proponents showed up to support the bill. Rep. Jim Hill, R-St. Clair, said a substitute will likely be offered next week when the committee takes action on the bill.
