What can I expect when deciding custody of my child?
Every family that divorces has to deal with who the children are going to live with. Its a very difficult question, and it's a question that causes many people a great deal of pain and consternation. Child custody is a big business in this country, and there are people that do child custody law, people who do child custody evaluation, professional mental health therapists, judges and courts, advocates and special masters and mediators. It's a big business, and its a big business because people fight over their children and thats because in many states the percentage of time you have your child is directly in accordance with how much child support you either pay or you get. Even when there is not child support that's attached to it, it's an emotional thing because its a sense of pride, of win or loss. "How can I save face when I don't have one hundred percent custody of my children?" "Whats wrong with me that I don't have at least 5 percent custody?" Fathers want at least 5 percent custody minimum, mothers often want more custody. So, in this country we've seen how the presumption of who should have the children changed. It started out many years ago being fathers. In the late 1800s fathers were granted custody of children because they were property. Then we had the tender years presumption where mothers were given children because the presumption was they need their mother. Now, in the last four years or so fathers have made tremendous gains to be seen as equal parents, and they want equal custody. Yet mothers still feel that if fathers get equal custody there's some kind of deficit, some kind of deficiency in them that people might see. So custody is a really hot topic today, it's a multi-billion dollar business, and it unfortunately thrives on unhappy people and children in pain.
