Are Divorce Courts Anti-Dad?
Friday, August 29th, 2008I read an article recently in Parade magazine. The piece questioned whether divorce courts are against dads — “In 85% of divorces, fathers get just two weekends a month and a couple of hours during the week.” The article cites to a new national trend for “proportional time” where the custody decision is based on the time the father spent with the children prior to the divorce. Read the article here.
Texas courts began changing the way parents are viewed in the mid-1990’s. The father’s rights movement began to raise awareness of the involvement of some fathers in their children’s lives beyond the traditionally perceived gender rolls. The Texas Legislature changed the designation of titles given upon divorce, creating a presumption that both parents will be called “joint managing conservators”. Although Texas still has the presumptive Standard Possession Order that awards the non-primary joint managing conservator access two weekends a month, plus holidays and summer time, many judges have begun to entertain deviation from that standard schedule where the evidence shows a father’s involvement and ability to share in the day-to-day parenting. For more information, please see my article Texas Divorce Law Basics.
