Divorce professionals in Flanders : policy and practice examined

Recent Belgian policy changes led to progressive shared parenting, mediation, and no-fault legislation. However, little is known about the practices and policy preferences of the implicated professionals. The present study surveyed 664 Flemish divorce lawyers, mental health professionals, and mediators. The majority of professionals supports no-fault divorce legislation, unified family courts, court-independent mediation, and well-informed trajectory decisions, but disagree with a primary caretaker presumption. Equally shared parenting agreements were uncommon in lawyers' practice and most frequent among mediators. Yet, whereas mediators were mostly skeptical, the majority of lawyers were convinced of the positive effect of such agreements on children. Mental health professionals are set apart by exclusive maternal authority agreements and rarely providing trajectory information in their practice. Implications for clients, practice, and policy are addressed. Keypoints for the Family Court Community Discusses recent sociological and legal developments in Flanders Details key policy and practice preferences of different divorce professionals Clarifies policy and practice differences and similarities between divorce professionals on: Equally shared parenting agreements No-fault divorce and the nature of mediation services Informing on divorce trajectories and changing divorce trajectories Informs on possibilities for interprofessionnal collaboration and areas of expertise

[1]  K. Matthijs,et al.  Measuring Postdivorce Living Arrangements , 2014 .

[2]  K. Matthijs,et al.  Post-divorce custody arrangements and binuclear family structures of Flemish adolescents , 2013 .

[3]  R. Brondeel,et al.  Toward High‐Quality Divorce Agreements: The Influence of Facilitative Professionals , 2012 .

[4]  F. Swennen Het personen- en familierecht , 2012 .

[5]  M. Brinig,et al.  Do Joint Parenting Laws Make Any Difference? , 2011 .

[6]  S. Pressman Policies to Reduce Child Poverty: Child Allowances Versus Tax Exemptions for Children , 2011 .

[7]  D. Mortelmans,et al.  De impact van de echtscheidingswetgeving op het verloop van een echtscheiding in Vlaanderen , 2011 .

[8]  P. Bracke,et al.  Divorce, divorce rates, and professional care seeking for mental health problems in Europe: a cross-sectional population-based study , 2010, BMC public health.

[9]  J. Kempen,et al.  Transboundary River Basin Management in Europe: Legal Instruments to Comply with European Water Management Obligations in Case of Transboundary Water Pollution and Floods , 2008 .

[10]  A. Singer Active parenting or Solomon’s justice? Alternating residence in Sweden for children with separated parents , 2008 .

[11]  G. Verschelden,et al.  Verblijfsco-ouderschap. Uitvoering en sanctionering van verblijfs- en omgangsregelingen. Adoptie door personen van hetzelfde geslacht , 2007 .

[12]  B. Neale,et al.  New Structures, New Agency: The Dynamics of Child-Parent Relationships after Divorce , 2007 .

[13]  Patrick Senaeve,et al.  De Wet van 18 juli 2006 op het verblijfsco-ouderschap, de blijvende saisine van de jeugdrechtbank en de tenuitvoerlegging van uitspraken aangaande verblijf en omgang , 2006 .

[14]  R. V. Krieken,et al.  The 'Best Interests of the Child' and Parental Separation: On the 'Civilizing of Parents' , 2005 .

[15]  Herman Verbist Bemiddeling krijgt een wettelijk kader , 2004 .

[16]  Patrick Senaeve,et al.  Compendium van het personen- en familierecht , 1991 .