subject: Child Custody And Divorce [print this page] The subject of child custody is something a lot of people don't understand. Indeed there are many myths about child custody that people buy into even though these myths have no basis in the law.
The biggest myth out there is that the law says children will always be granted to the mother. This is simply untrue, most state laws don't specifically grant rights to anybody. Instead the laws leave up the courts to determine custody in the "best interests of the child."
This means that the court usually the judge will decide who gets the children. Judges usually grant custody of children to mothers because mothers are usually seen as better parents in our society. Any bias in favors of mothers in these cases is on the part of courts and judges not the law.
Hearings
Another myth is that the courts determine the issues after a divorce. This is not true the courts only become involved in a case if a person challenges another individual's custody of a child.
If there is no challenge to a spouse's custody of children in a divorce there will be no court action. In a large percentage of divorce cases the courts never become involved in child custody issues.
Something else that people may not realize is that there doesn't need to be a divorce. Under our legal system anybody can theoretically challenge anybody else's legal custody of children. For example social workers can petition a court to have a child taken from a parent because of abuse or neglect.
Parents generally don't have to worry about such challenges because courts usually only strip parents of custody when a child is in physical danger. In our court system it is up to the person filing the challenge to custody to prove that the parent or guardian is unfit to raise the child.
by: Karen Simpson
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