Solutions to Dissolutions Re: Children
![handle is hein.journals/jaaml9 and id is 101 raw text is: Vol. 9, Fall 1992
Children
Solutions to Dissolutions Re: Children
by
Honorable Richard Yale Feder*
Most judges have solved the economic Gordian Knots of
Dissolutions, by cutting through acrimony, obfuscation, and ani-
mosity with Alexandrian machete chops. These judges are neither
as quick, nor as draconian, though, in their attempt to solve the
more troublesome knots of custody. Still, lawyers and scholars
would like to, and often do, cite to Solomonic judgments when
discussing custody decisions.' For the most part, however, modem
day judges have neither such legendary wisdom, nor such authorita-
rian powers.2 Today's enlightened sword of justice no longer ex-
tends to the practice of baby splitting.
Matrimonial judges will forever suffer through much soul-
searching when it comes to issues concerning children and the ef-
* Circuit Judge, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Dade County Florida. The au-
thor wishes to thank his law clerks, Brett Feinstein and Josh Wechsler for their
invaluable assistance.
1 See, e.g., Elster, Solomonic Judgments: Against the Best Interests of the
Child, 54 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1, (1987).
2 Then said the king [Solomon]:
The one saith: this is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead; and the
other saith: Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. And
the king said: Fetch me a sword. And they brought a sword before the
king. And the kind said: Divide the living child in two, and give half to
the one, and half to the other.
Then spoke the woman whose living child was the king, for her heart
yearned upon her son, and she said: 0 my lord give her the living child,
and in no wise slay it. But the other said: Let it be neither mine nor
thine, but divide it. Then the king answered and said: Give her the living
child, and in no wise slay it. She is the mother thereof..
1 Kings 3:23-27
See LaFave, Origins and Evolution of the Best Interests of the Child Stan-
dard, (Children and the Law Symposium), 34 S.D.L. Rev. 459. 464-470, (1989)
(over the years, various presumptions and doctrines of custody have helped to de-
termine which parent received custody); see also Fineman & Opie, The Use of So-
cial Science Data in Legal Policy Making: Custody Determinations at Divorce, Wis.
L. Rev. 107, 115 (1987) (removal of the rules of thumb in custody decision mak-
ing has created a crisis in that judges no longer have rules to follow toward custody
in a consistent or efficient manner).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jaaml9&div=9&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Solutions to Dissolutions Re: Children
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