1.
A judge is unlikely to *order* shared parenting, meaning tell the
parents that they must share parenting responsibilities equally. They
will, however, often sign and endorse shared parenting agreements that
parents agree to on their own. So you likely must negotiate for it, or
agree to it, on your own terms.
*Why* judges are
currently unlikely to order this custody arrangement is discussed in,
among other sources, Edward Kruk's work: http://www.psychologytoday.com/experts/edward-kruk-phd
2.
In a parenting plan, settlement, there is no need for anyone to be
called the "primary physical custodian," *except* the child support
worksheet. In shared parenting, there is no primary physical custodian,
and the law does not require that there be one. Nearly all discussions
of the issues assume that there must be a primary physical custodian,
but there need not be, except for the child support worksheet.
3.
The child support worksheet, however, does currently require that there
be a "primary physical custodian." This complicates factors since it
attempts to generate financial obligations based on the assumption that
one parent has the child(ren) most of the time. And there is no
systematic way to deviate from that presumption: no schedule E
deviations are determined by any standard method. So there is no
standard method to calculate any child support obligations in a 50%-50%
custody arrangement. For discussion and guidance, see the economist Mark
Rogers: http://rogerseconomics.com/
See also
https://www.nationalparentsorganization.org/blog/21453-how-to-calculate-child-support-in-shared-parenting-cases
Since
the primary physical custodian tends to receive a financial benefit
from having this designation, this discourages shared parenting: the
parent who would receive these funds might resist shared parenting so as
to receive this financial benefit. And the parent who is seeking the
deviation might be discouraged since, even though she (or he) has her
(or his) children 50% of the time, she pays the amount of child support
that would be due if she (or he) had the children rarely, e.g., every
other weekend. The child support system should readily accommodate
shared parenting by developing a systematic way to determine child
support in an equal, shared custody arrangement.
