There are common issues in divorce for men only. The issues can surface in divorce cases with or without custody complications. It doesn’t matter who initiates the divorce proceedings but gender does still play a role in divorce courts.
Divorce Issues for Men Regarding Support and Finances
It is still common in today’s society for the husband to earn more income than the wife during a marriage. A man who earns more income may be required to provide spousal support either temporarily to allow a wife time to get back into the work force or permanently if the wife cannot enter the work force (either because of a disability, age, or the need to care for a disabled child). Providing a monthly support check can become a huge financial obligation for a man as he can be expected to essentially provide for two households. Most courts do expect the woman to carry some of the financial burden, but the presumption that the man should be providing for the family still lingers in some district courts.
Laws are drafted to give each party a share of the retirement assets earned during the marriage. A man who has been in the work force and has had the opportunity to contribute to a retirement fund will have to divide the retirement fund when he gets divorces. A woman may not have been in the work force, or may not have had the kind of job that provided a retirement fund so she would not have a retirement fund to share with the man.
Divorce Issues for Men Regarding Custody
The presumption in the courts years ago was that children should be primarily with their mother following a divorce. While state laws have been rewritten to do away with that presumption, it is still common for a mother to get primary custody, or more parenting time than a father. The father can absolutely get primary custody or more parenting time, but he might have to work harder to prove to the court that it is in the child’s best interest. The mental perception and long-standing prejudice that a mother is a better parent than a father, still exists in the minds of many judges. There is also the issue of a father providing child support for the child. A father is expected to provide financially for the child even if he was not the primary bread-winner during the marriage.
Getting Legal Help
An experienced family law attorney should be familiar with the prejudices in the district court in which he practices law and can help create a strategy that works in the best interests of the man going through the divorce process. A family law attorney can help a man retain as many assets as possible and can assist in overcoming the inherent prejudices regarding custody.
