Father’s Rights

Father’s Rights During Divorce

Fathers are sometimes given second-class status in Colorado “custody” cases. Assumptions by courts are made every day about father’s ability to give his kids love and affection. Society tells us it’s the man’s job to work and provide for his family, not to fix dinner, work on homework or tuck in at night.

It can be an uphill battle to convince those involved in “custody” cases that father is both a fit and proper caregiver for his own kids. Even though Colorado is not a “mom’s state”, and the Colorado family law is allegedly gender-blind, fathers can’t take anything for granted and must work to learn the law and argue aggressively for their parenting time and decision making responsibility.

It was only a few years ago that states abandoned the Tender Years doctrine which stated that a child under the age of 13 should be primarily with the mother. To grant custody of a child to a father was “to hold nature in contempt and snatch helpless, puling infancy from the bosom of an affectionate mother, and place it in the coarse hands of the father.” The mother was “the softest and safest nurse of infancy.”

For fathers involved in “custody” fights, it’s important to retain skilled, aggressive lawyers and become familiar with the legal standards the judge applies in these cases.

Parenting Time

The phrase “parenting time” refers to the time allotment each parent spends with their kids. A parenting time order consists of dates, times, locations, and sometimes directions as to conduct.

The types of possible plans is infinite but court ordered parenting time is generally broken down into 3 types: regular parenting time, holiday parenting time, and summer parenting time. Each period will have it’s own schedule. Parents and courts often highly customize these schedules so as to fit the best interests of the children.

Read more about Parenting Time for Fathers …

Decision Making

Decision making responsibility for children is also allocated between the parents in Colorado divorce cases. The phrase “decision making” refers to the major life decisions for children in a divorce, such as education, religion, health care, etc.. Decision making may be award to the parents jointly, solely to one parent, or allocated based on the subject matter.

Child Support

Child support obligations are common in Colorado divorce cases involving children. Vary rarely is there a family law case where there is no support order.

In Colorado family law cases, child support is calculated based on a strict formula. The formula is based on several factors including incomes of the parties, the number of overnights each parents gets with the children, and any work-related childcare expenses.

Parental Alienation

Sometimes, a father’s relationship with his kids can be sabotaged by a mom who uses her time with the kids to brainwash them against their father. Intentionally interfering with dad’s parenting time by showing up late or registering the kids for activities in lieu of father’s time are common indicators of these efforts.

These efforts have recently begun to get the attention of divorce courts and the other professionals involved in Colorado family law cases. Now, when these efforts appear, some lawyers are able to successfully uncover them for what they truly are, blatant attempts by one parent to poison the children’s relationship with the other.