Madeline
Rookie
- Banned
- #1
Most people see their local domestic relations court through the lens of their own experience, perhaps expanded by the experience of others close to them. I suppose this is natural; little else is more deeply felt than a property settlement with a former spouse or an award of child custody.
The purpose of this thread is to ask, do you feel fathers usually get a raw deal in your domestic relations court? Do you feel men have a legitimate need to come together and try and change laws or remove judges they feel are unfair to them? (No one is disputing their right to do so.)
It'd be hard to point out another area of American law that has undergone greater change in my lifetime. When I was young, few states had no fault divorce laws. The right to divorce did not exist unless one party had proof the other had misbehaved. These antiquated notions led to many, many unhappy people who could not leave, or faced ruination if they did.
No fault laws ushered in a greater sanity, imo. But women lost almost all rights to seek alimony, helping to ensure that women and their children lived in dire poverty after the divorce. Women were typically granted full custody (I can remember when shared custody was viewed as a bizarre idea) and judges calculated child support by the seat of their pants. Many/most women were never able to collect the child support they were owed.
The rising sensitivity to domestic violence and the rights of women and children led to some modification of these principles or usual outcomes. Women found it (somewhat) easier to collect child support as the government undertook collection actions, established garnishment procedures, etc.
Nothing can ever be codified to eliminate judicial bias or prevent unfair results -- that is why we have an appeals process. I am not opposed to the objectives of the Fathers' Rights Movement insofar as they seek to maintain the father-child bond, level the playing field for contested custody cases, or deal with neglectful or abusive mothers.
What bothers me is that the claims some members of the Movement make regarding women. Such claims as women abuse men more than men abuse women. That most applications for a protective order are specious. That sex abuse charges arising during divorce proceedings should almost never be believed.
In short, I don't object to the goals of the Fathers Rights Movement until they attempt to turn back the clock and reverse gains made by the Womens' Rights Movement.
Comments?
The purpose of this thread is to ask, do you feel fathers usually get a raw deal in your domestic relations court? Do you feel men have a legitimate need to come together and try and change laws or remove judges they feel are unfair to them? (No one is disputing their right to do so.)
It'd be hard to point out another area of American law that has undergone greater change in my lifetime. When I was young, few states had no fault divorce laws. The right to divorce did not exist unless one party had proof the other had misbehaved. These antiquated notions led to many, many unhappy people who could not leave, or faced ruination if they did.
No fault laws ushered in a greater sanity, imo. But women lost almost all rights to seek alimony, helping to ensure that women and their children lived in dire poverty after the divorce. Women were typically granted full custody (I can remember when shared custody was viewed as a bizarre idea) and judges calculated child support by the seat of their pants. Many/most women were never able to collect the child support they were owed.
The rising sensitivity to domestic violence and the rights of women and children led to some modification of these principles or usual outcomes. Women found it (somewhat) easier to collect child support as the government undertook collection actions, established garnishment procedures, etc.
Nothing can ever be codified to eliminate judicial bias or prevent unfair results -- that is why we have an appeals process. I am not opposed to the objectives of the Fathers' Rights Movement insofar as they seek to maintain the father-child bond, level the playing field for contested custody cases, or deal with neglectful or abusive mothers.
What bothers me is that the claims some members of the Movement make regarding women. Such claims as women abuse men more than men abuse women. That most applications for a protective order are specious. That sex abuse charges arising during divorce proceedings should almost never be believed.
In short, I don't object to the goals of the Fathers Rights Movement until they attempt to turn back the clock and reverse gains made by the Womens' Rights Movement.
Comments?