High Conflict Resolution: The Effects of Child Custody Petitions and Agreements on the Custodial Outcome of Dissolutions of Marriage

Family court typically wants separated parents to agree on child custody, but when there is court-identified high-conflict between parents, judges may need to intervene and decide custody without both parties agreeing to the recommendation. This study examines the influence of agreements, the mutual agreement between litigating parties in custody arrangements, and single-party petitions (Petitions to Modify Custody) on the ultimate custodial outcome of court-identified high-conflict family court cases. We found that as the number of agreements increased, the likelihood of a case's outcome being an agreed-upon custody arrangement also increased. This study further examines an exploration of gender bias, which showed that deference to the mother may be occurring and can be further analyzed through more research. This study can inform legal professionals in their efforts to foster agreement and sustain equitable litigatory processes. Further research is needed to continue as this subset is only 100 out of 182 total PCR cases.