An Empirical Determination of the Competence of Children to Participate in Child Custody Decision-Making
The judicial system has traditionally presumed children under the age of 14 incompetent to participate in custody decisions despite the far-reaching impact of such decisions on their lives. Although the majority of state statutes now require the court to solicit the child's preference before rendering a custody decision, they fail to provide adequate, if any, guidelines to determine the weight to be accorded to the child's preference. Even where relevant factors are mentioned (e.g., intelligence, understanding, and experience), it is not clear how these are to be assessed.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign