Committee advances bill creating rebuttable presumption of joint custody, adds amendments

Senate Bill 2484, which would create a rebuttable presumption that both parents are entitled to joint custody and equally shared parenting time, advanced from the committee after discussion and several amendments.

Senator Hickman, the bill sponsor, described the measure as adding a presumption in favor of equal parenting time while preserving judicial discretion: courts would still be able to deviate from joint custody when factors (including distance between residences or Albright factors used in chancery court) make shared parenting impractical, but the court must note reasons for any deviation. The sponsor and the chair emphasized that an amendment added language protecting agreements reached by both parents so a court would not have to place on the record reasons for deviating where parents had submitted a mutual agreement.

Committee members asked about whether chancellors and the chancery bench had been consulted and whether the bill's interaction with child support guidelines would change support calculations. Senator Hickman and other supporters said they had spoken with chancellors and that the bill was reworked from a prior year to avoid constitutional or discretion-limiting language cited by critics. Senator Barrett asked whether child support determinations would still use statutory guidelines or require further legislative work; members agreed that further attention to child-support guideline interactions may be needed.

Senators Turner Ford and others successfully offered amendments clarifying that the custody provisions apply in cases where parents are not married and paternity is established; the committee adopted a reverse repealer amendment and other technical amendments during debate. The committee then approved the committee substitute by voice vote and passed the measure onward.