Facing the prospect of a divorce, many fathers assume from the start that they will not be given a fair shake in the family court system. While this has no doubt occurred in some cases, the assumption itself can also be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The truth is, legislators and family courts in Tennessee have made great strides toward making sure that fathers’ rights are respected in divorce cases.
Here, and in other states as well, dads routinely win primary and even sole custody of their children. By the same token, mothers can be and frequently are ordered to pay fathers child support and sometimes even alimony.
For example, a Los Angeles family court judge recently ordered actress Halle Berry to pay the father of her 4-year-old daughter $20,000 a month in child support. The ruling was issued after negotiations between Berry and her former boyfriend, model Gabriel Aubry, reached an impasse over some “delicate” but unidentified issues.
The fact that Berry and Aubry were initially so committed to peacefully resolving their child custody differences without the court’s help is also worth noting. In our experience, even people who have the very best intentions at the start of a divorce can completely reverse course and forget about doing whatever is in “the best interests” of their children at any point during the process.
With that fact in mind, Tennessee dads who are concerned about fathers’ rights issues such as child custody, parenting time or child support should seek the objective perspective and assistance of an experienced divorce attorney as soon as possible.
Source: Time, “Halle Berry Ordered to Pay $240,000 in Child Support,” Melissa Locker, June 21, 2012
