Focus: fathers’ rights in family law matters

Are you familiar with “Fatherless Day?”

It is likely that most of our readers aren’t, given that it is obviously not a national holiday and vies with a host of other subject-themed days for public attention.

As described in a recent national media piece, Fatherless Day denotes a day each year that is “dedicated to children who do not see their father because of death or separation.”

Obviously, the knowledge of many men who are familiar with the day owes to the relationship — or relative lack thereof — that they have with their children as a result of court determinations made pursuant to divorce.

Across Massachusetts and nationally, many divorced dads rue what they regard as a biased judicial stance against them — based solely on their sex — in judicial outcomes concerning the children-related roles of parents following marital dissolution.

The above-cited overview of child custody and fathers’ rights puts it this way: It notes that many dads across the country “still believe the system is stacked against them” in family law court.

Is that true?

In one sense, the perception can seem more important than the reality. If many fathers think that they simply can’t get a fair shake from a judge in a custody-related matter, they might not take reasoned and determined action aimed at promoting their legal rights.

One commentator in the above article voices the view — which is routinely echoed by many other family law attorneys across the United States — that matters regarding parenting plans and visitation have become far more flexible and unbiased in recent years. He says that “the trend is being very open to both the father and the mothers,” and that courts are generally quite willing to accommodate both parents in matters involving their kids.

Fathers involved in custody matters need to know that they have rights in the process and that they are acknowledged as being important actors in their children’s lives. A proven fathers’ rights attorney can help any father seeking to play a strong post-divorce parenting role promote those rights and be what he most wants to be.

For most men, that is simple: They want to be dads.