The Approximation Rule, Child Development Research, and Children’s Best Interests After Divorce

—To remedy perceived problems with the best‐interests‐of‐the‐child standard, the American Law Institute proposes that in contested custody cases, courts allocate custodial time to each parent that approximates the proportion of time each spent performing caretaking functions in the past. This article evaluates the goals, assumptions, and potential benefits of the proposed approximation rule in the light of child development research. It concludes that the rule is unlikely to better define and secure children’s best interests and recommends more widespread adoption both of uniform criteria defining the best‐interests standard and of reforms that encourage nonadversarial, individualized resolutions of custody disputes.