Senator Fischer introduces bill to allow parties to request juries to decide child custody casesNebraska Unicameral. LB 886 amends Sec. 42-364 RRS Neb. to add the rights of either party to a divorce case to request a jury trial for child custody disputes. LB886, Section 2:

For the determination of custody arrangements and the time to be spent with each parent, each parent has the right to a jury trial and may request such. Thedetermination shall be based upon the court shall consider the best interests of the minor child

Some judges arent too happy about this, fearing that adding more cases eligible for jury trials will clog their dockets even more. ON the other hand, if it gets harder to take child custody cases to court, maybe more will settle. In the unlikely event a good law like this ever passes however, the legislature should think about changing the Supreme Court's standard of review for child custody cases, as it will do little good to give decision making power to juries only to have capricious appellate judges' overruling them with the power to review cases de novo.