Understanding Your Rights as a Father in New York

Father’s Rights in New York

The issue of father’s rights can be confusing and frustrating. Sometimes dads can feel like their interests aren’t considered, or their right to have a relationship with their child. It can be quite an uphill battle for fathers when it comes to child custody issues. Due to the general view of a mother as a nurtuer and caretaker, mother tend to retain physical primary custody of a child. Undoubtedly, its the best interest of the child to have a relationship with both parents, but it may not always be the case that those parental relationships exist or are as fruitful as they should be.

What Rights Does A Father Have? Physical vs. Legal Custody

Depending on custody arrangements, fathers have a right to a sound and balanced relationship with their child. If a mother has primary custody, meaning that the child lives with her full-time or most of the time, the father should be allotted visitation time. Visitation can be supervised or unsupervised based on a court order. This can ensure that the child and his or her father spend enough time to maintain a bond. If the parents both have joint physical custody of the child or children born from the marriage, they should share equal or proportionate time with the child or children.

Parents can also have different legal custody of a child. If a parent has sole legal custody, that means that one parent makes all the decision for a child. In cases where a mother has physical custody, a father should try and maintain shared legal custody. This means the he will also be able to make decisions or help make decisions for the child in the best interest of the child. These would include decisions about medical needs, education, religion, and so on.