Becker v. Becker’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “a) The love, affection, and other emotional ties existing between the parties involved and the child. b) The capacity and disposition of the parties involved to give the child love, affection, and guidance and to continue the education and raising of the child in his religion or creed, if any. c) The capacity and disposition of the parties involved to provide the child with food, clothing, medical care, and other material needs. d) The length of time the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment, and the desirability of maintaining continuity. |5e) The permanence, as a family unit, of the existing or proposed custodial home or homes. f) The moral fitness of the parties involved. g) The mental and physical health of the parties involved. h) The home, school, and community record of the child. i) The reasonable preference of the child, if the court deems the child to be of sufficient age to express a preference. j) The willingness and ability of each of the parents to facilitate and encourage a close and continuing parent-child relationship between the child and the other parent. k) The distance between the respective residences of the parties.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 657 So. 2d 459 - Boudreaux v. Boudreaux

2. “When one parent embarks on a planned course of action to destroy the parent-child relationship between the child and the other parent, this is not in the best interest of the child. When that course of action involves planting in a child's mind knowledge of sexual practices that cannot be reasonably associated with sex education, and the inculcation of that knowledge is falsely attributed to child abuse by the other spouse, it takes no expert to realize that the resulting damage to the child is incalculable. A parent who will deliberately use such means to further selfish interests is acting in his or her own interests, and not in the child's interest. Civilized people abhor and condemn sexual child abuse. Bringing false charges of parental sexual abuse of children, and the deliberate use of the children as pawns to try to validate the charges, is equally despicable and condemnable.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 795 So. 2d 1271 - Masters v. Masters