The State of Pennsylvania legislature currently has House Bill 463, last referred to the judiciary in February of 2009, which authorizes family courts to default to a rebuttal presumption of shared-parenting (essentially 50/50 custody) absent provable issues about parental fitness of logistical issues that would prevent same.

An excerpt:

§ 5303. Award of custody, partial custody or visitation.

(a) General rule.–An order for joint custody shall be awarded by the court unless the court finds that joint custody is not in the best interest of the child. There shall be a rebuttable presumption that an award of joint custody is in the best interest of the child. The court shall state on record the reason for any award other than an award of joint custody.

Shared parenting works, folks.  We urge all Pennsylvanians to contact their state representatives in support of this initiative.  Help stop vindictive parents from using children as a weapon against loving, willing, caring parents.  Don’t allow them to keep abusing the legal system and the children in order to obtain a long-term, tax-free stream of income off of the hard work of the target parent.  Support this bill and see it become law.

To review the full bill, sponsors and co-sponsors: Pennsylvania House Bill 463