Parental Rights for Fathers in California

August 19, 2018January 17, 2019
by Angie

In the state of California, parental rights for fathers are incredibly important – and they’re equal to maternal rights. Under state law, fathers have just as much right to see, spend time with and bond with their children as mothers do, and the state (as well as the courts) recognize how important it is for both parents to be active participants in their kids’ lives.

Parental Rights for Fathers

When parents are married at the time of a child’s birth, paternity is presumed. That means the mother’s husband is automatically considered to be the child’s father. That extends past marriage, though – if a child is born and someone is living with the family and fulfilling a fatherly role (by demonstrating a commitment to the child), that person can also be considered the child’s father, even if he isn’t biologically related.

If neither of these circumstances are present, you need to establish your paternity.

Things can get pretty confusing when it comes to parentage, so this might be a good discussion to have with a child custody lawyer in Stockton.

California’s Parental Rights: Fathers’ Rights to Custody and Visitation

As a father, you have the absolute right to seek custody and visitation rights with your children. The law doesn’t discriminate between dads and moms – instead, each parent has equal rights (and equal responsibilities) when it comes to being with the kids.

There are two types of custody: Legal and physical.

Legal Custody	Physical Custody
Legal custody refers to a parent’s authority to participate in big decisions about the child’s health, education and welfare. Most parents share legal custody.	Legal custody refers to a parent’s authority to participate in big decisions about the child’s health, education and welfare. Most parents share legal custody.

If you and your spouse don’t agree to who gets legal and physical custody between yourselves, either as joint custody or full custody, the judge in your case will decide for you. When the judge has to decide, he or she will look at several factors – but the bottom line is that the judge’s decision is supposed to be based on what’s best for the children.

These are some of the factors judges look at in deciding who gets custody in California:

The child’s age
The child’s health
The emotional ties that exist between each parent and the child
The child’s ties to school, home and the community
The ability of each parent to emotionally, financially and physically care for the child
Whether there’s a history of family violence
Whether there’s a history of substance abuse in the family

Do You Need to Talk to a Lawyer About Parental Rights for Fathers?

If you’re not sure where you stand in all of this, you’re not alone – a lot of people are thrown off by the fact that California, like most states, used to favor the mother when it came to rights to the children.

But that was a long time ago, and now, the law and the judges who execute it see mothers and fathers as equals.

We can help you preserve your parental rights as a father, whether you and your ex disagree about child custody, child support or anything else – and we can help you if you agree, too.

Call us at (209) 546-6246 for a divorce case review. You’ll talk to an experienced Stockton divorce lawyer who can give you the advice you need to begin moving forward.

Child Support

Fathers’ Rights and Child Support in California

August 16, 2018June 8, 2020
by Angie

In the state of California, fathers have rights too – and that’s true across every aspect of divorce, including child support. Like mothers, dads are considered incredibly important parts of kids’ lives in the Stockton family court system. Their rights and responsibilities, just like those expected of mothers, extend providing their kids with emotional and financial support.

Fathers’ Rights and Child Support in California

Caring for children is as much a father’s responsibility as it is a mother’s under California law, and that includes the payment or receipt of child support. Here’s the bottom line:

Either parent can request child support from the other party in a divorce
The court decides who will pay child support
The court determines a fair amount of child support, regardless of the paying parent’s gender

Requesting Child Support From Your Ex-Spouse

As a father, you have the right to request that your ex-spouse pay child support if you are sharing custody of the children or if you have sole custody. A parent receiving child support is permitted to use it for:

Educational expenses
Extracurricular activities
Housing expenses
Medical expenses
School expenses
Transportation expenses
Anything else the receiving parent needs to provide for the children, including utility bills and other necessities

Do Fathers Have the Right to Avoid Paying Too Much Child Support?

In California, both parents are treated equally, regardless of gender. That means fathers (as well as mothers) have the right to avoid paying too much child support. We don’t mean too much as if there’s ever too high an expense to care for your children – we mean so much child support that it puts you in the poorhouse.

California’s child support formula, which judges can deviate from when necessary, is what courts use to determine how much child support one parent will pay the other to help out with the couple’s children. The formula relies on net income and how much time each parent spends with the children, but other factors do come into play, such as:

Child care expenses
Medical insurance premiums
Tax implications for both parents
Other expenses that affect each party’s situation

Because the formula is largely dependent on each parent’s net income, it prevents calculations that exceed what’s reasonable in most cases. However, if the formula turns out to take more money than is economically feasible for one parent to pay, the judge can use his or her discretion to make the appropriate adjustments.

Do You Need to Talk to a Lawyer About Fathers’ Rights and Child Support?

We can answer your questions about fathers’ rights and child support, and we can protect those rights during your divorce.

Call us at (209) 546-6246 or contact us online to schedule an appointment with an attorney. We may be able to help you.

Divorce

Common Mistakes Dads Make in Divorce Cases

August 28, 2017August 13, 2020
by Angie

In the state of California, mothers and fathers have equal rights to parenting time when the courts are figuring out child custody. Moms and dads are held to the same standards when it comes to income and child support, too (and men and women are equal in the law’s eyes when it comes to paying spousal maintenance, too).

However, some people are under the misconception that fathers are at a disadvantage in Stockton divorce courts—and they make big mistakes because of it.

Common Mistakes Dads Make in Stockton, CA Divorce Cases

Although men and women are granted equal rights (and opportunities) under California divorce laws, many people aren’t aware that there’s no “automatic penalty” just for being a dad. Old myths persist, causing some people to make big—and costly—mistakes.

Trying to Out-Spend Your Spouse

The California Family Code says that it’s not acceptable to try to financially break your soon-to-be ex-spouse. In fact, the code’s General Provisions say (in Part 271), that if one spouse engages in “unreasonable behavior” that’s not consistent with California’s public policy on dispute resolution, he or she may end up having to pay the other spouse’s attorney’s fees.

One more thing, too: If you’re going into court with your proverbial guns blazing, while your spouse is just there to do what’s right for your kids, the judge may not look too favorably upon you.

Giving Up Your Legal Rights

You have a responsibility to your kids to assert your rights—and the courts expect you to do it. California law gives you the right to be with your children and participate in their lives, but some dads mistakenly believe that the law is against them from the start and end up giving away some (or most) of their rights because they don’t want to “lose” in court.

If you give away your rights to custody and visitation, you don’t lose… your kids do.

(Learn more about helping your children with depression and other issues.)

Remember, too, that it’s easier to ask for what you and your kids deserve in the first place than it is to say, “I’ve made a mistake! Can we fix it?” later.

Forgetting That Change is Okay

If something significant changes, you can ask the court to modify orders it has already made. Let’s say you lose your job, or you’re transferred and have to spend more money on your living arrangements; paying the same amount of money in child support can send you deep into debt, which means it’s okay to ask the court to change the order it already made. It’s pretty simple to ask for a modification order, and the worst that can happen is that the judge disagrees with you.

Are You a Dad Who Needs to Talk to a Stockton Divorce Attorney?

If you’re a father who knows he needs to protect his own—and his children’s—rights during divorce, we can help you.

Call us at 209-910-9865 or get in touch with us online to discuss your situation. We’ll give you the case-specific legal advice you need right now, and we’ll begin developing a strategy that gets you the best possible outcome.

Tag: <span>Fathers’ Rights</span>

Parental Rights for Fathers in California

Parental Rights for Fathers

California’s Parental Rights: Fathers’ Rights to Custody and Visitation

Do You Need to Talk to a Lawyer About Parental Rights for Fathers?

Fathers’ Rights and Child Support in California

Fathers’ Rights and Child Support in California

Requesting Child Support From Your Ex-Spouse

Do Fathers Have the Right to Avoid Paying Too Much Child Support?

Do You Need to Talk to a Lawyer About Fathers’ Rights and Child Support?

Common Mistakes Dads Make in Divorce Cases

Common Mistakes Dads Make in Stockton, CA Divorce Cases

Trying to Out-Spend Your Spouse

Giving Up Your Legal Rights

Forgetting That Change is Okay

Are You a Dad Who Needs to Talk to a Stockton Divorce Attorney?

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