Abstract
Judicial reasoning in parental separation and divorce proceedings: content and cognitive analysis of judicial reasoning. The Spanish legal system states that the "best interest of the child should prevail" in decisions regarding child custody and guardianship in parental separation or divorce proceedings. In order to evaluate if this legal requirement is being enforced, 782 child custody cases were selected for study. Systematic content analysis of court decisions revealed that most, 57.3%, were not motivated on any grounds; the reasoning criteria were not valid; criteria were not consistent for intergender parental custody decision-making; the father's custody was mainly based on criteria of exclusion of the mother; no follow-up of judicial decisions was undertaken to ensure compliance; information processing was task driven and involved information processing strategies "based on the exclusion of information" that was contrary to the final decision. Finally, the implications are discussed in the light of recommendations for safeguarding the best interest of the child, and for judges training.
