(a) The primary objective of this article is to serve the child's best interests by facilitating: (1) Stability of the child; (2) Collaborative parental planning and agreement about the child's custodial arrangements and upbringing; (3) Continuity of existing parent-child attachments; (4) Meaningful contact between a child and each parent, and which is rebuttably presumed to be equal (50-50) custodial allocation of the child; (5) Caretaking and parenting relationships by adults who love the child, know how to provide for the child's needs, and who place a high priority on doing so; (6) Security from exposure to physical or emotional harm; (7) Expeditious, predictable decisionmaking and avoidance of prolonged uncertainty respecting arrangements for the child's care and control; and (8) Meaningful contact between a child and his or her siblings, including half-siblings. (b) A secondary objective of this article is to achieve fairness between the parents consistent with the rebuttable presumption of equal (50-50) custodial allocation. §48-9-102a Presumption in favor of equal (50-50) custodial allocation. There shall be a presumption, rebuttable by a preponderance of the evidence, that equal (50-50) custodial allocation is in the best interest of the child. If the presumption is rebutted, the court shall, absent an agreement between the parents as to all matters related to custodial allocation, construct a parenting time schedule which maximizes the time each parent has with the child and is consistent with ensuring the child's welfaree.
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