Divorce Advice for Men | Fathers Rights Divorce | Child Custody

Question:

Per our child custody agreements, I share joint legal custody with my ex-wife though she has primary physical child custody.

She has been hospitalized for weeks about 3 hours from where I live. Her husband - my child's stepfather - is refusing to let me come take my child so that he can live with me while his mother is recovering in the hospital.

Can my child be kept away from me by his stepdad because it's technically not my parenting time even though the mother is in the hospital unable to care for the child?

By Matt Allen

Editor, DadsDivorce.com

There are now more children who live with unwed, cohabiting parents than with divorced parents and that affects fathers rights to child custody, according to a recent report. 

The National Marriage Project and the Institute for American Values reports there are 12 times as many cohabiting couples with children as there were in 1970.

By the time children reach 12 years old, 42 percent of them have lived with cohabitating parents while only 24 percent have lived with parents who have divorced, according to the National Survey of Family Growth.

If you are in a cohabiting relationship, you need to be aware of your rights to your children and if your partner has any rights to your assets should the relationship end.

Studies have shown non-marital unions are much less stable so it’s important to protect your interests before a break up.

Question:

Do I have to continue paying child support to a child that I no longer see?

I have seen my daughter only a handful of times in the past five years due to my ex-wife's flagrant disregard for parenting time orders and severe parental alienation where my daughter says she never wants to see me again.

Is it fair that my income is withheld and I pay all this child support for a child who no longer wants to see me?

Question:

My ex-wife was awarded primary child custody and exclusive rights in regards to deciding where our children live. She has repeatedly moved from the state we were divorced in, but is currently living in a state that I recently moved to.

I am trying to get back into my children's lives, but I am fearful that she will move again.

Are there any chances the court will amend the orders and not allow her exclusive rights to decide where the children live since she constantly moves in part to keep me away from my children? What jurisdiction would I need to file this motion in?

By Matt Allen

Editor, DadsDivorce.com

William E. Brooks turned his nightmare of a child custody situation into an aptly named book that described his role as a father to two small boys ripped away from him: "My Life In Exile."

His experience with a system devoid of father’s rights pushed him out of his children’s lives and nearly ruined his subsequent marriage. His goal now is to raise awareness of the inequality of the child custody.

"Those unaware of this terrible problem need to be made aware. Those suffering at the hands of this system need to be encouraged to fight for change knowing they are not alone,” Brooks said. "My hope is that my sons never have to endure the pain and suffering I had to endure as a father and that their children never have to suffer as they did when they were young and innocent."

Below, read Brooks' divorce article about the flawed family court system and why a logical shared parenting arrangement would work.