ANN ARBOR—Judges are biased in favor of awarding custody to mothers after a divorce. Judges vary tremendously in how they approach custody decisions. Judges’ own family backgrounds affect their custody decisions.

These kinds of comments are frequently heard from divorcing fathers and from their attorneys. But a recent University of Michigan study shatters these stereotypes.

The study of 125 judges was conducted by Drew J. Miroff, a recent U-M graduate, and U-M psychology Prof. Neil M. Kalter, author of “Growing Up With Divorce.”

Miroff, who plans to attend Northwestern University Law School this fall, began the research as part of an honors program in psychology that pairs U-M undergraduates with faculty mentors. “My parents were divorced when I was a kid,” says Miroff, “and I’ve been interested in the subject since then.” Miroff’s father is a family law attorney in the state of Indiana, from which the sample of judges was drawn.

As part of the study, one of few to focus on the opinions of judges rather than psychologists and other mental health professionals, Miroff and Kalter asked judges to rate the importance of 40 general custody factors.

Judges were in significant agreement on the factors that are important in coming to custody decisions. They focused heavily on the emotional stability of the parents and the quality of the parent-child relationship.

The key factors were: whether the parent had a history of child abuse; had a history of illegal substance abuse; had a history of alcohol abuse; was mentally healthy; was emotionally mature; provided love and guidance to the child; was devoted to the child; had a good pre-divorce relationship with the child; was able to cooperate with the other parent on decisions concerning the child; and, finally, had sound reasons for seeking custody.

Factors involving environmental stability, including whether a parent planned to relocate, whether the child would be able to live in the same house and whether the parents lived in close proximity to each other, were only ranked 24th, 27th and 28th, respectively.

The five least important factors were the age of the parent, the child’s preference to live with the mother or the father, whether one parent considered himself or herself to be the child’s only genuine psychological parent and, last of all, the reason for the divorce.

University of Michigan