Divorce, Child Custody, and Religion

According to recent news reports, conflict over religion in child custody battles after divorce is becoming more frequent. Experts have attributed this to more interfaith marriages, parents using religion to justify their actions, as well as parents converting to a new religion after divorce and imposing it upon their children. Adding to all of this is a trend noted by some lawyers that a parent is more likely to get custody of their child if they have adopted a religion, though judges are reluctant to openly admit this.

It can be a challenging problem to solve, if one spouse is alleging misdeeds with regard to their child which were based in that parent’s religion. For instance, if one spouse claims that it is more important for their child to be allowed to go to their school’s football or soccer game on Friday nights instead of listening to the other parent whose religion commands indoor rest at dusk. How is a judge to rule on such a case without violating the constitutional requirement of separation of church from state? Even more problematic is where each parent’s religion requires that the child do different things. For this problem to be resolved, a judge would essentially have to state that following one parent’s religion is more in the best interests of the minor child than the other parent’s religion.

While such child custody battles infused with religion are problematic enough, they are drastically accentuated and more intractable following a divorce. Such disputes have arisen more recently as family laws have developed such that the mother of the child is not automatically given much more control than the father in raising the child. Many lawyers have observed that courts refer such cases to mediators or custody evaluators to make recommendations so that the court does not have to be involved in the details of the disagreements.

In some areas, the court may decide that one parent is going to be the primary decision maker for the child. Along with this responsibility, the parent may be given the presumption that whatever they decide for the child is in the child’s best interests. The other parent may be allowed to challenge this presumption in court. For a determined enough parent, it will likely be hard for a court to deny that parent the right to expose their religion to their child.

The good news is that, for the most part, conflicts over religion are not typically over extreme differences. Parents are usually able to focus on the best interests of the child, instead of fighting with each other over lingering issues from their divorce. When issues are relatively minor, trained custody evaluators or mediators will likely be able to work out solutions that both parties are able to find acceptable.

This article is just meant to give an overview of child custody and is informational, not legal advice. If you are in need of a lawyer or have legal questions, contact one in your local area. While Will Beaumont has offices in New Orleans and Metairie, his law license only extends to Louisiana.