What Are a Father’s Rights in a Divorce Proceeding?

If you’re a father facing divorce proceedings in Mesa, NV, it’s important to proactively defend your parental rights and stay involved in your children’s lives. A lawyer can help you understand all your rights and protect them.

Parental Rights Considerations for Mesa, NV Fathers

Many fathers still believe the court will default to giving the mother custody and preference for day-to-day care, or that equal time with their children is somehow harder to obtain. Arizona law, however, treats both parents as equal by default and may not prefer one parent over the other because of gender. Every decision about legal decision-making and parenting time has to be made according to what’s in the best interests of the child.

Best Interests of the Child Rule

How does the judge decide what’s in the child’s best interests? The court will consider a wide range of factors, including: 

• The history (and future potential) of your relationship with the child
• How the child gets along with each parent and with siblings
• How well the child has adjusted to home and school
• The child’s own wishes ( if the child is mature enough to express them)
• The mental and physical health of everyone involved
• Which parent is more likely to support frequent and meaningful contact with the other parent
• Any history of domestic violence or abandonment or false reports of abuse
• Involvement of each parent in the child’s life so far
• Other evidence you and the other parent may present 

Making Decisions and Having Custody

Legal decision-making and parenting time are separate questions for the court. Legal decision-making involves having a say in all the child’s major life choices, like where they go to school, their medical care, their religious upbringing or lack thereof, etc. Parenting time is about where the child sleeps, who handles school drop-offs, when the child spends time with each parent, and how holidays and vacations are split. 

With both decision-making and parenting time, the court can award either joint or sole authority. Just because the parents have shared legal decision-making rights does not automatically mean they will have equal parenting time. And just because you don’t have the same parenting time doesn’t mean you’ve lost your right to take part in major decisions. The court will default to shared decision-making unless there is very clear evidence that one of the parents shouldn’t have that right. 

Knowing About Your Child

You also have the right to access your child’s educational, medical, and other records, regardless of what the court determines about parenting time or decision-making. Unless a court actually issues an order that restricts that access, which is very rare, both parents are entitled to the same information. 

Child Support

Child support also doesn’t favor one parent or the other; you’re not required to pay it just because you’re the father. Instead, it’s calculated by a statutory guideline that considers both the parents’ incomes and the amount of parenting time each has. You cannot be denied parenting time because you owe support, and you cannot withhold support because you are unhappy with the parenting schedule. 

If you’re a father facing divorce, contact the Law Office of Cosmas Onyia for a free consultation. We’ve served the Avondale, Chandler, El Mirage, Glendale, Goodyear, Mesa, Scottsdale, Surprise, and Tempe, AZ areas for over three decades.

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