An Empirical Determination of the Competence of Children to Participate in Child Custody Decision-Making
type: CreativeWork
description: 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.
abstract: 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.
author: Greenberg, Ellen Faye
keywords: Psychology, Clinical
date published: 2014-12-15T19:45:50Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:26:01Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/69634