The Effect of Joint-Child-Custody Legislation on the Child-Support Receipt of Single Mothers

Brandeanna Allen, John Nunley () and Richard Seals ()

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Due to the preponderance of single mothers on public assistance, delinquent child support has been a contentious political issue in the U.S. for over 30 years. We examine whether joint-child-custody reform affects the child- support receipt of single mothers. We use variation in the timing of joint-custody reforms across states to identify the effect of joint custody on the child-support receipt of single mothers. Joint-custody enactment raises the probability of receiving child support for all single mothers by six percent. However, the effect on all single mothers is driven by the effect on divorced mothers since separated and never-married mothers are unaffected by joint-custody reform. We conclude joint-custody reform confers the most benefit on divorced mothers and their children, particularly those who do not receive public assistance.

Keywords: child support; joint custody; child-custody laws; child-support enforcement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 J12 K36 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-11, Revised 2009-03
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/16316/1/MPRA_paper_16316.pdf original version (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Effect of Joint-Child-Custody Legislation on the Child-Support Receipt of Single Mothers (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:16316

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joachim Winter ().