Child Custody for Fathers

Unfortunately, battles over who will have custody of any children shared in a relationship are one of the most-argued cases in court. This is usually because once a marriage breakdown has happened and both parents are living separately, it can be hard to arrange where the child will be living and who will have parental responsibility for them.

When a child’s parents go through a divorce or other kind of legal separation, how their parents handle the situation can have an effect on the rest of their life. However, because the decisions made post-separation can also have severe importance, many disputes occur over who should have custody of the child. This scenario is extremely common and is likely to end up in a family Court.

Father’s rights

In England and Wales, fathers are legally entitled to be involved with any serious decision about their child’s life, even if they don’t have legal custody of the children.

Our expert Child Custody for fathers solicitors ensure that father’s rights are protected.  This means that if the child’s mother has full parental responsibility, you, as their father, still have the right to be involved in key matters that will affect their life. Some of these matters can include medical, educational or financial decisions.

Here at 1Solicitors, we work closely with dads to ensure that they know their father’s custody rights before escalating their case in Court. We believe that knowing your legal rights as a father is key to achieving the living situation that you want, which is why our team specialise in providing dads with 24/7 legal advice when looking to gain custody of their children.

Types of child custody for dads

In the UK, there are two types of child custody that a father could receive and the decision of which you may receive depends on the Court. These are:

Custody

Also referred to as ‘residency’, custody refers to the parent in which the child will live with following the break-up of their parents. This can be either the child’s mother or father and will be decided by the Court.

There are no laws that state that children should live only with their mother or father, meaning that you could gain full custody of your child – even if you’re a father. Child custody rights allow you to apply for this responsibility alone.

Joint or shared custody

If both parents are deemed as able to look after and take care of their shared child, you may want to arrange shared or joint custody of the children shared. This means that both parents have equal rights to see their child and will both have parental responsibility.

Some of the benefits of being granted joint child custody include:

• The children involved will have two homes, meaning that they have more stability and security.
• Both parents are able to decide important things such as where the child will be educated and where they will live.
• The children are able to still have a relationship with both parents; something which should be granted wherever possible after a separation.
• Separated and/or unmarried fathers are able to see their children and are granted more involvement in their child’s life.

Whilst joint child custody is considered to be of the best interests of the children involved, some parents may dispute the requirement. In this case, mediation would not to be seen as possible and the case will need to be escalated further in a family court.

How do fathers get child custody?

Fortunately, not all child custody cases have to result in a Court case. However, this requires both parents to agree on a custody solution where parents will be required to mediate themselves and try to arrange a solution that is suitable for both themselves and the children they share.

Our team of child custody lawyers can act as the mediator between you and your spouse. Acting as an impartial person to help arrange things relating to your children such as where they’ll live and how much time they spend with each parent, we’re able to help parents reach an out-of-court agreement.

Handling father’s child custody disputes

If a mutual decision cannot be reaches and both parents are still failing to agree on child arrangements, the case will need to be escalated in Court.

In order to do this, you must apply for a court order for arrangements for the child. This is able to be completed by a mother, father or any other person with parental responsibility, so unmarried fathers are able to apply for a court order themselves if mediation hasn’t been successful.

You can apply for a court order for the custody of a child by:

1. Filling in a C100 form – in this document, you must provide details of both parents and children, as well as evidence which supports the fact that mediation hasn’t been possible.
2. Sending the form and three copies of it to your nearest family law court.

Once you’ve sent the CB001 form, your local Court will arrange a ‘directions hearing’ which should be attended by both parents involved in the dispute. In this hearing, a judge will work out what parents can and can’t agree on, as well as analyse the likelihood of children being at risk.

Once this has been decided, the Court will make a consent order which outlines the agreement that has been put into place.

Shared child custody for fathers

Our Solicitors for Child Custody for Fathers are proud to have also helped countless father’s gain residence of their child where they approached us to gain contact believing it would be impossible to gain full custody of their child.

At your initial consultation, our child custody Solicitors are able to explore all available options for access which can include shared custody.

Our Solicitors for child custody for fathers rely on not only their technical ability to secure early contact but legislation armed to promote father’s rights so that children have a stronger relationship with both parents. We are proud to have reunited countless children with their father’s and push an effort towards a shared child custody for fathers.

Benefits of shared child custody for fathers

Joint custody provides a host of advantages such as:

• Both parents continue to share parenting responsibility
• Separated fathers are able to spend regular time with their children and become more involved in their lives as well as key decisions about their child’s upbringing
• Children are provided with more security and stability being benefited from two homes
• Allows the children to develop a real family life with both sets of parents

To discuss your situation further and receive impartial advice on which may be the best route for you to gain custody for fathers not married, contact us today. We’d love to help.

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Here at 1 Solicitors, we have an expert legal team that are able to fight for child custody for fathers on your behalf. Having helped hundreds of dads be granted legal access to see and interact with their children on a routine that suits both parents, we’re sure that we can help with your child custody battle and get the result you deserve.