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Is There Bias Against Fathers?
(provided by Eric C. Nelson, Esq.)
Often times fathers come into my office thinking that a fight for custody is futile because of bias. Conversely, mothers often make the mistake of thinking that an award of custody to the mother is virtually guaranteed. Neither is true.
Legally, there can be no discrimination based on the sex of the parent. For a father willing to bear the time and expense of the contest, chances for custody are more or less equal to those of the mother, all else being equal. Having said that, I do think there is some lingering bias, even though judges and custody evaluators and guardians ad litem will always deny it. Often I do not believe it even occurs on a conscious level. Yet there is a gut feeling one gets, representing a father, that the job is just a little more difficult.
I'll give a common situation as an example. The father wants joint physical custody. The mother wants sole physical custody. The parties agree more or less on the parenting time schedule, so the custody label is more about child support than anything else. In this situation, it always seems to be the father who is blamed for seeking the joint physical custody label solely to reduce child support, rather than the mother who is blamed for seeking the sole physical custody label solely to increase child support.
In conclusion, my advice to fathers is that they should not despair. If the children would be better off in the father's custody, that is worth fighting for, and is winnable. I have gotten many fathers custody, even in the most dismal of predicaments. For mothers, my advice is to take nothing for granted. Against a determined father, the loss of custody is a very real possibility which you should take very seriously if custody is important to you.
Information provided by:
Eric C. Nelson, Esq. located at
http://www.divorcesource.com/MN/DS/nelson.html
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