Dowdy v. Dowdy’s Empirical Analysis
1993
Citation profile
37 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 37 later decisions — most recently March 2021 · most notably Reavis v. Reavis (1998), Basolo v. Basolo (1995)
37 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Webster v. Reproductive Health Services · Love v. Love · Boyle v. United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida · Leitner v. Lonabaugh · Craig v. McBride
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 37 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“goal to be achieved is a reasonable balance of the rights and affections of each of the parents, with paramount consideration being given to the welfare and needs of the children.”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage“A court does not abuse its discretion unless it acts in a manner which exceeds the bounds of reason under the circumstances, as is said to mean an error of law committed by the court under the circumstances.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Pinther v. Pinther · Djg v. Map“The general rule across the country is that separating siblings from each other through custody awards to different parents is not preferred. See, e.g., Craig v. McBride, 639 P.2d 303 (Alaska 1982); Pennington v. Pennington, 711 P.2d 254 (Utah 1985); and In re Marriage of Moe, 66 Or.App. 947 , 676 P.2d 336 (1984). Keeping siblings together in the same household is generally considered to be the better practice. However, the effect of separating siblings from each other is just one of several factors courts consider in determining the primary issue-the best interests of the children. See Jay M. Zitter, Annotation, Child Custody: Separating Children by Custody Awards to Different Parents-Post-1975 Cases, 67 AL.R.4th 354, § 2[a] (1989). See also In re Marriage of Barnthouse, 765 P.2d 610 (Colo.Ct. App.1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1021 , 109 S.Ct. 1747 , 104 L.Ed.2d 184 (1989).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.