How Courts Decide Child Custody

Courts evaluate dozens of factors when deciding custody, but the most important are: the child's relationship with each parent, each parent's ability to provide stability, the child's adjustment to home/school/community, each parent's willingness to support the child's relationship with the other parent, any history of domestic violence or substance abuse, and the child's own preference (given more weight as children get older).

Courts do not automatically favor mothers — the trend is strongly toward joint custody arrangements..