As a father facing the prospect of a divorce, you need to understand your basic rights. Although there are minor differences in divorce laws from one state to another in the U.S., divorce laws largely are the same from one jurisdiction to another, according to the American Bar Association Section of Family Law. Fathers essentially possesses the same rights no matter where you reside in the United States.
Gender Neutrality
The basic rights you maintain as a father arise from the concept of gender neutrality. Despite your sex, you have the same ability as a woman to seek legal or physical custody of a child, child support as well as parenting time or visitation.
Temporary Orders
During the time a divorce case is in process, a father has the same rights as a mother to seek and obtain temporary orders regarding issues relating to children, according to "Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce" by Emily Doskow. Temporary orders grant temporary physical and legal custody to a parent as well as parenting time or visitation and child support.
Physical Custody and Child Support
Primary physical custody pursuant to divorce law involves where the child born during a marriage resides the majority of the time. A father's divorce rights include the ability to seek, obtain and maintain primary physical custody of his child. If granted primary physical custody pursuant to a settlement agreement or divorce decree, the father also possesses the right to child support payments from the non-custodial spouse.
Legal Custody
Legal custody is the legal term associated with the parent's authority to make major life decisions for a minor child. The legal preference is for both parents to share legal custody of a minor child whenever possible, oftentimes referred to as "joint legal custody" in divorce law. A father's rights in divorce include a presumption that he will share joint legal custody of a child with the other parent, even if the mother is designated to provide the primary home for the minor.
Parenting Time or Visitation
As a father you have the divorce right to seek parenting time or visitation if you are not designated to provide residential custody of your child, according to the American Bar Association Section of Family Law. Divorce laws in many states across the country utilize the concept of parenting time in regard to what historically was called visitation. The concept behind parenting time is that a non-custodial father is not a mere visitor in the life of his child. He is entitled to parenting time or visitation sufficient to develop and maintain a meaningful parental relationship with his child.
References
- Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce; Emily Doskow; 2008
- American Bar Association: Section of Family Law
- Cornell University Law School: Divorce
- The Divorce Organizer & Planner; Brette McWhorter Sember; 2004
