Reaching agreement after divorce and separation: Essays on the effectiveness of parenting plans and divorce mediation

Many Western countries recently introduced policies that may mitigate the negative consequences that parents’ relationship dissolution can have on children. The Netherlands overhauled its regulations in March 2009 with The Promotion of Continued Parenting and Proper Divorce Act. With the law reform both married and cohabiting parents are obligated to draw up a parenting plan when they separate. The main focus of this dissertation is to evaluate the effectiveness of the parenting plan in the Netherlands. Besides evaluating the role of the parenting plan, in this dissertation another procedural approach that may help to mitigate the possible negative consequences of divorce for children is examined; divorce mediation.
From the results of this dissertation we can conclude that almost all formerly married parents and about half of formerly cohabiting parents draw up a parenting plan. The likelihood that formerly cohabiting parents draw up a parenting plan is higher if they consult a legal practitioner during their separation process. Also, the younger their youngest child and when these formerly cohabiting parents opt for shared residence after divorce, the more likely it is that a parenting plan will be drawn up. The opposite is found regarding parental conflict, those in a high-conflict situation are less likely to draw up a parenting plan.
Comparing formerly married parents who divorced in 2008 with those who divorced in 2010 reveals that after the 2009 law reform more divorced parents put their agreements in writing, make their agreements more comprehensive and update them more often. Besides these direct procedural changes, no further effects of the implementation of the mandatory parenting plan are found. Regarding the comparison between formerly married and formerly cohabiting parents its concluded that even though they differ in the extent to which they draw up a parenting plan, when a parenting plan is constructed the comprehensiveness is comparable between these groups. However, both the presence and the comprehensiveness of the parenting plan are not associated with child well-being.
In this dissertation the role of divorce mediation in the Dutch divorce procedures is examined as well. A distinction is made between whether the divorce mediator is consulted voluntarily or whether it was suggested by a legal third party. Almost half of the formerly married parents and about one third of formerly cohabiting parents consult a divorce mediator, of which most do so voluntarily. Parents with younger children, higher educated parents, parents who face less personal problems, and those in longer relationships were more likely to consult a divorce mediator out of their own initiative. Whereas higher levels of pre-divorce conflict increase the likelihood of parents being advised to consult a divorce mediator. The results indicate that voluntarily divorce mediation could potentially be associated with fewer child-related problems, but only among formerly cohabiting parents. The same potential positive association is found for both (very small) groups of parents when they consult a divorce mediator after being suggested to do so rather than not consulting a divorce mediator.