By Alia Beard Rau
The Arizona Republic
Arizona is poised to lead the nation in increasing rights for fathers this year.
State lawmakers are considering a bill to make Arizona the first state in the nation to grant equal custody to the fathers of children born out of wedlock. Currently, the mother is automatically granted custody and the father must establish paternity and then go to court to seek parenting time.
Lawmakers, fathers and advocates are also pushing legislation for stricter reporting requirements by the parent with a child to tell the other parent and the court whenever they plan to move, as well as make it easier for parents to get back into court and revise their parenting-time agreements.
These measures come on top of successful efforts in recent years to begin to modernize legal terminology by changing child custody to parenting time, improve the balance of parenting time for both parents and forbid the courts from giving one parent preference based on the parent’s or child’s gender.
“I have always had a serious issue with the statutory presumption in paternity cases,” said Kaine Fisher, RLG family law attorney. “It never made sense to me and it has always been a glaring problem. It favors mothers simply because they are mothers. Obviously, this principal is old-fashioned and outdated and it is about time the playing field is leveled for out-of-wedlock fathers.
If you’d like to discuss family law, contact with Kaine Fisher, kfisher@roselawgroup.com.
