Concerns about children are often one of the factors that hold people back when they start thinking about divorce. Parents generally do not want to traumatize their children. They may try to make the marriage work to avoid disrupting the family’s daily schedule and living arrangements.
Parents also typically do not want to make choices that could negatively affect their relationships with their children. They don’t want to risk losing time with their children. Many people have heard tragic stories where devoted parents lose access to their children because of unfair custody determinations.
Some people give up their parental rights early in the divorce process because they assume that the courts will give their spouse preferential treatment or priority consideration during custody litigation. Is it true that one parent may receive special consideration in a custody hearing?
State laws are intentionally neutral
Concerned parents need only review state custody statutes to realize that they have equal rights under the law. Custody statutes make it clear that the main consideration should always be what is in the best interests of the children.
The courts should not operate with the presumption that either parent deserves more parenting time or parental authority than the other. Neither mothers nor fathers receive preferential treatment under state law. Judges instead have to learn about family circumstances and try to determine what is best for the children based on their understanding of the situation.
Judges have the authority to award sole or joint custody. They distribute both legal custody or decision-making authority and physical custody or parenting time. In many cases, the best custody outcome involves joint custody where parents share time with and authority over their children.
A parent seeking sole custody usually needs strong evidence supporting their claim that the other parent could neglect or abuse the children. Barring unsafe or unstable circumstances, judges typically prefer to see parents working together rather than fighting against one another when they have children together.
Learning more about how the family courts handle custody cases may help parents make the right decisions about an upcoming custody battle. Neither parent should receive special consideration from the courts, which means that both parents have the same basic rights under state law.