North Dakota House Passes Equal Parenting Bill; Critics Argue It Won't Fix Problems In Custody Battles

Lawmakers passed a proposed bill on equal parenting in North Dakota. If approved into a law, it will allow each parent, who has divorced or separated, to have a 35 to 50 percent time with the children. Supporters believe the measure will help cut down problems arising from custody battles, but critics argue otherwise.

Some 71 representatives voted in favor of House Bill 1392 while 21 opposed it. Republican Rep. Tom Kading was the bill's sponsor and six other GOP representatives backed his proposal.

Kading made it clear that the bill is different from a previously rejected proposal called Measure Six. He said that HB 1392 is a children's right's bill than a parents' rights, which Measure Six was. The latter apparently had more rigid provisions and heavier burden of proof for the parents, The Dickinson Press reported. 

HB 1392's focus, on the other hand, is for the child's best interest. Under its stipulations, the courts should accord both parents "equal presumption." Divorced fathers who feel that, more often than not, they lose out to custody cases as courts usually favor mothers, strongly back the bill.

North Dakota's State Bar Association, however, expressed its opposition through lawyer Jason McLean. He cited some problems with equal presumption, via his column in Inforum.

"The court is the only place a parent can go to overcome a presumption," McLean wrote, citing this bill won't actually lessen custody battle conflicts. "Not only that, the burden of proof is no longer equal between the parents. Instead, the parent opposing the presumption bears that burden."

McLean, who also opposed Measure Six in 2014, maintained HB 1392 is still the same law, albeit differently worded and despite how Kading presented it. "The presumption will control everything," he said. North Dakota senators are expected to vote on the bill as well after the deliberations done last March 8.