Minnesota ranks fairly high, although their ranking has gone down a bit from last year. In my case, Spring fought tooth and nail for sole custody, even though, I believe, she knew and desired that I be the primary parent. So then why did she fight so hard for custody? Two reasons that I can see. The first is that she believed, quite correctly, that she would get more money out of me if were were awarded it. Money seems to have been the driving factor of a lot of her actions. But the second one is more psychological. She believed that it would make her look better to her and her family. After all, she left me. If the court had awarded me sole custody that would have raised a lot of questions.
I suspect the reason Minnesota ranks so high is that, unlike with alimony, we have a formula for child support. Like splitting assets earned by either spouse earned during the marriage when divorcing, it isn't necessarily fair but it is know and hence less prone to corruption.
From the NPO report:
Extensive research going back more than a quarter century has found that the 35% of children in fatherless or single parent families not only fare worse in terms of psychological and emotional well-being, physical and mental health, labor market and wealth accumulation outcomes, but are more prone to social pathologies such as child abuse, crime and substance abuse.
These children represent:• 63% of teen suicides;• 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions;• 71% of high school dropouts;• 75% of children in chemical abuse centers;
The societal cost of fatherlessness and single-parent families has been conservatively estimated at $100 billion annually.