Women’s and Mother’s Rights
What you need to know:
- Women's Divorce: The Halves Are Not Equal: In 1854, the godmother of American feminists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, told the New York State assembly: "We ask for no better laws than those you have made for yourselves. We need no other protection than that which your present laws secure for you."
- A Continuing Cultural Upheaval: That cultural upheaval draws energy from two bodies of thought about the place of woman in society. One, equity feminism (sometimes called liberal or classical feminism), asserts the equality of man and women through political and legal reform, and the other, gender feminism, an ideology, argues the psychological, moral, spiritual, intellectual and biological superiority of woman.
- Uneven Economic Gains: Women Still Earn Less: Overall, women remain segregated in low paying occupations, and occupations dominated by women are low paying. In 2007, nearly half - 43 percent - of the employed women in the United States were in 20 occupational categories, many of them the so-called "pink collar" jobs that pay less than industries that are male dominated.
- Divorce Pain and Suffering: Battles: And unfortunately, despite the emancipation of women, child custody and visitation battles remain a common feature of many bitter divorces. While women generally have an advantage here, a mother cannot automatically assume she will be awarded custody of the children in contested cases.
- No Money: Passport to the Poorhouse: Most divorce survivors remember the experience the way veterans remember surviving a war. The liberalization of divorce has not made divorce painless or even easy, but liberalized divorce probably gave more women far more latitude about escaping a bad marriage. At the same time, women have more to think - and worry - about when doing it.
- The Custodial Mother: A Steep Climb: While many women suffer a decline in their standard of living after a divorce, some studies suggest that women who are employed during the marriage fare better after a divorce than mothers who stay at home. A middle-age woman who attempts to reenter the workforce after taking many years off for child rearing very often finds the market indifferent to the stale work skills she can offer.
- Alimony: At The Court's Discretion: Despite the alimony jokes ("She got the mine, I got the shaft"), spousal maintenance no longer assures the divorced woman the lifetime financial floor it did when courts considered marital misconduct in dividing the marital estate and awarding alimony.
- The Divorce Strategy: Make a New Plan: A woman ending a marriage, voluntarily or involuntarily, needs to fashion a divorce strategy that includes such factors as earnings, inflation, division of property, the amount and duration of maintenance, and, yes, a reduced standard of living. Put another way, a woman facing divorce needs to think about short-term and long-term considerations.
- What Women Need to Remember: A women married to a high-income man must consider more factors in negotiating a divorce settlement. In general, the larger the size of the marital estate, the more complicated its division and distribution becomes. Many women make mistakes, however, that are easy to avoid.
Useful Online Tools
- Divorce Case Management Software - Designed to empower the lawyer-client relationship. Gain the advantage with good organization and communication.
- Custody JunctionTM - Easily schedule, track and monitor current and future custody, visitation, and support arrangements.
- DivorceDeskTM - Build and manage vital divorce documents and letters online for free!
Child Support:
Child Support Increase Request Letter - Payee to Payor
Child Custody & Visitation
Suggested Reading
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The Women's Rights Manual for Divorce What you are experiencing or contemplating is probably going to be the most difficult time of your life. Separation and divorce can break anyone emotionally and financially if you let it. Your future is in your hands. This manual gives you easy access to your rights, which will provide you the needed protection for you to have a successful divorce.
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Related Article Archives
 Child Support Court Procedures Custody & Visitation Domestic Violence Spousal Support All Article Archives |
Resources & Tools
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ADOPTION CHANGE OF HEART -- In adoption cases, if the biological mother changes her mind even after she has surrendered the child, there is a good chance that the child will be returned to her, unless she is deemed to be unfit. Unfit means it has been proven the mother has a history of substance abuse, homelessness, reckless behavior, or mental instability.
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The Relevance of Adultery and Extra-Marital Sexual Conduct in Custody and Visitation Cases
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