What will be the outcome of a custody fight?

Someone will lose in every custody fight—-literally--every single one. A judge in Oregon cannot award joint custody unless both parents agree. If you push for a custody fight, you may lose, and if you don’t, your spouse certainly will. Once you’re before a judge, there are no compromises. Out of the 200 or so cases I’ve mediated in the past four years, only one has resulted in an in-court custody battle. That’s about the right ratio. Custody fights occasionally protect children, so that’s why we have them, but most of the time, they are a power play on the parents’ part.