Family law in the newS
| Buffalo Law Journal – Sept 19, 2016 | More judges awarding parents equal time with children |
| "The thought that children needed to have their mother and the time with the father wasn’t as important has changed, according to HoganWillig attorney Elizabeth DiPirro. She said research shows that children who grew up with that type of arrangement didn’t fare as well. “It’s much more of a common phenomenon now,” she said. “I think it’s terrific. I think the old way was very antiquated." | |
| St. Louis Post Dispatch – Sept 8, 2016 | Editorial: Putting dad back in the family picture following divorce |
| "Fathers have not had equal consideration in the past. They’ve been forced by the courts into a lower-priority position as judges typically assumed the child’s best interests were with the mother. Missouri, like most states, enacted divorce laws before much research had been conducted on the value of a father’s involvement in parenting. It was presumed that a mother was the significant custodial parent and a father was the breadwinner, at best, and therefore did not need shared physical custody of the children. Recent research has put the lie to that damaging theory." | |
| Parent Herald – Sept 7, 2016 | Shared Parenting News & Updates: Why Women Are Not Given The Opportunity To Share Childcare Responsibilities |
| "Missouri's law represents a solution for all in which children will no longer suffer from the trauma and the pain brought by the decisions of a broken and outdated family court system”" | |
| KSHB Kansas City – September 6, 2016 | Dad-friendly ‘child custody’ law comes into force law in Missouri |
| "For the last 6 months, I've only seen my children 30 hours in 6 months. I was never charged with any crime, convicted of any crime," said Jackson. Jackson called Missouri's 50/50 parenting law a step in the right direction but said more needs to be done." | |
| Law Offices of M. Sue Wilson – September 4, 2016 | Missouri Divorce Law Pushes For Equal Parenting Time |
| "Unfortunately, fathers are often granted disproportionately less time with their children by the courts, even if they prove to be a stunning example of what a father should be,” said a spokesman for M. Sue Wilson Law Offices of Minnesota. “But the tides are starting to turn, and we’re seeing more states establishing new laws that give dads the time they deserve with their children." | |
| Southeast Missourian Editorial Board – September 4, 2016 | Better Time, Better Parents |
| "Gov. Mike Nixon felt the need to sign Missouri's reform over the Fourth of July weekend, likely to avoid provoking the two main groups opposed to shared parenting: bar associations and feminists. Those groups prefer the status quo for the common reasons: money and power." | |
| St. Louis Post Dispatch – August 29, 2016 | New Missouri law pushes divorce judges to establish equal child custody time |
| "Before I even said my situation, before I even gave them any insight into the dynamics of our family, both lawyers basically said this is what you are going to get: every other weekend and one day a week. And it shocked me." | |
| Fox 2 Now (St. Louis) – August 27, 2016 | New law requires family courts to take closer look at child custody arrangements |
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"“My son was a hands on father," Reutzel said. "His wife worked some nights and some weekends so he did everything for that child from infancy on. There was absolutely no reason for him to not get (equal time with his daughter). Before it happened to me, I just assumed that if a father wasn't spending time with their kids, they were the typical 'dead beat dad' who probably didn't have an interest in the kids and probably shouldn't have had custody anyway,".... |
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| Irish Independent – August 26, 2016 | Men will only get equality in custody cases when women face some hard truths |
| "The family law researcher observed 493 judicial separation and divorce cases in 2010, which are ordinarily held in private. But she couldn't find a single case where the wife was ordered to pay maintenance for children or a spouse, and had only seen the courts order joint custody in two cases." | |
| Beacon Hill Patch – August 9, 2016 | 'Conflict' Shouldn’t Withhold a Shared Parenting Vote: Op-Ed |
| "It is not rational for fathers to fight for custody because their chances of winning primary or shared parenting are insignificant." | |
| Des Moines Register – July 30, 2016 | Iowa's custody laws put fathers at disadvantage |
| "My research turned up allegations of child kidnapping, parental alienation, criminal neglect and judicial favoritism from parental rights activists long frustrated by a lack of legislative interest in solving Iowa’s family law problems. But one specific flaw seemed to emerge more prominently: sexism." | |
| Broward Palm Beach New Times – July 27, 2016 | Men-Only Divorce Attorney Says He's Crusading for Men's Trampled Rights |
| "Leigh points to a double standard: Everybody wants fathers to be present in their children’s lives, but judges only give them custody of the kids every other weekend – four nights a month." Attorney Kenny Leigh" | |
| Good Men Project – July 24, 2016 | A Broken System: Fighting to be a Dad |
| "We have a system that is not impartial and often serves as a breeding ground for disingenuous and unethical actions committed by players in the legal arena and sometimes (knowingly and unknowingly) enabled by the very courts people believe will determine fact from fiction." | |
| Salford Online – July 17, 2016 | Watch: One in four dads feel like ‘FaceTime fathers’ after divorce |
| "nearly 70 per cent of divorced dads said they felt ‘distant’ from their children and what they do day to day. They also felt that their relationship would be better if they spent more time physically with one another rather than relying on technology to communicate." | |
| NY Law Journal – July 7, 2016 | Dignity Rights for Mrs. Doubtfire: A Place for Fathers in Custody Disputes |
| ""Rarely acknowledged, the presumption lingers as a silent elephant in the courtroom which sits on her side of the scale at decision time. When all is said and done it is she—not he—who is anointed with sole custody. And it is he—not she—who is left with the crumbs of visitation, and crumbs they frequently are." Attorney Frank Taddeo Jr" | |
| Good Men Project – June 30, 2016 | I’m the Wife of a Daddy Warrior |
| "Dear Fathers, I want you to know you are not alone in your fight for equality. We both know that the system is heavily stacked against you before you have even begun your fight. Court and the process is financially and emotionally draining, and unfortunately, gender bias is as fierce as it is real" | |
| Washington Examiner – June 27, 2016 | Missouri looks to equalize child custody laws |
| "You don't have to be Einstein to perceive gender bias in the family courts" | |
| Cordell & Cordellr | Pivotal Weeks Loom For Mo., Mass. Shared Parenting Bills |
| "Currently, both states use a sole custody model, with one parent receiving sole custody and the other cast in the visitor position. This setup lends itself to disputes and conflict between the two parents, which inevitably spills over to the children." | |
| Omaha World Herald – June 25, 2016 | Court reverses adoption of girl born in Ohio; father had fought mother's actions |
| “This situation is partially the result of Nebraska’s statutes that encourage biological mothers to minimize the rights of legal fathers.” | |
| The Daily Caller – June 17, 2016 | Republicans Should Man Up On Fatherlessness |
| "In 2015, a National Center for State Courts poll found the public believes top groups facing discrimination in courts are the poor, African Americans, and divorced fathers." | |
| National Post – June 14, 2016 | Barbara Kay: Want to help society? Let kids know their fathers |
| "U.S. government statistics tell us that over a third of all American children are not living in two-parent homes: forty per cent of children are born out of wedlock and between 33-50 per cent of children of divorce lose complete contact with one parent within three years. Usually it’s the father." | |
| Cordell & Cordell | Shared Parenting Movement Continues Gaining Traction |
| "Unfortunately, even though the benefits of shared parenting are well-documented, it is still very rare for states to hold the presumption that children should have equal access to both parents. Only 17 percent of custody cases result in shared parenting, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. For the most part, states fail at promoting this arrangement to the detriment of families" | |
| The Daily Caller – May 19, 2016 | Fatherlessness: What Are Republicans Doing About It? |
| "Therefore, custody and child support laws routinely limit kids’ time with their fathers. In some states, five days a month is average. It only takes a year or so before court dictates see non-residential parents, usually the dad, effectively cut out of their children’s lives." | |
| Cordell & Cordell | Florida Fails To Modernize Alimony, Child Custody Laws |
| "Once again, Scott and the bill’s opponents are ignoring mountains of empirical data that shows shared parenting to be in the best interest of families. And by bowing to special interest groups, Scott is providing another frustrating example of why it is so difficult to pass family law statutes that would clearly benefit parents and children." | |
| Sun Sentinel – April 20, 2016 | Mayo: Shouldn't responsible parents be considered equals? |
| "What did the father do? He contributed his sperm," said Guadalupe, co-founder of women's advocacy group Families Against Court Travesties." | |
| The Federalist – April 18, 2016 | Florida Gov. Rick Scott Ignores Families, Protects Disastrous Divorce Law |
| "Divorce law has become a racket serving lawyers and vocal advocacy groups, who preserve their income streams by pretending that the large and growing body of research on the significant advantages of shared parenting to children do not exist. The family law section of the Florida Bar was so worried about the current legislation that they hired extra emergency lobbyists." | |
| Record Journal – June 25, 2014 | Parents hope to send message about Connecticut family court |
| "We’re talking about keeping parents fighting and arguing because it’s billable hours, billable hours, billable hours,” Vargas said, adding how judges are threatening to put parents in jail who can’t afford to huge fees for the guardians ad litem, experts and other court fees.” CT Rep Edwin Vargas" | |
| Omaha World Herald - January 10, 2014 | Nebraska state senator urges action on child custody inequality |
| "Noncustodial parents in Nebraska get an average of five days per month with their children, according to a 10-year analysis of judicial decisions in child custody and divorce cases." | |
