The

“The Best Interests of the Child” is a standard devoid of meaning. Contradictory interpretations, which are inevitable, open the door for family law attorneys to profit from what we call “con”-flict – that is, attorney-induced conflict to increase billable hours (please forgive the neologism). Many family law attorneys (and many judges) are simply rent-seeking while turning a blind-eye to the destruction left in their wake. (Rent-seeking is a term borrowed from economics meaning to extract money from a system or government by manipulating the political environment and laws, rather than by creating new value. The family law system is especially pernicious because it destroys value both in the present by diverting resources away from families and reducing the future earnings of children by depriving them of one parent.  More on this in the Future course).

You cannot presume a lawmaker, judge, or attorney has any notion of what’s in the best interests of your child; even a properly-incentivized child psychologist cannot know much unless he or she spends considerable time with the child – and child psychologists paid by a parent or attorney to make assessments for court are not properly-incentivized.

Judges, attorneys, psychologists, therapists, social workers and law enforcement serve little purpose when both parents are reasonably competent – and very often increase conflict. While these professionals serve an incredibly important role in abuse cases, they simply do not have the knowledge of a specific child, or often the training, necessary to deal with most child custody issues.