Fathers' Rights

Tennessee Fathers' Rights Attorneys

As our country's cultural interpretations of what constitutes a family unit has changed, so have concepts of what amounts to a father's role in raising children. Historically, the divorced mother would almost always be granted the lion's share of custody by the court, while her former spouse, the children's father, would be an occasional visitor, a part-time father, and a full-time child support check giver.

But times have changed, and so have our outlooks on fathers. Dads have begun to insist on being allowed to assume larger parenthood roles. Observers have started to question the fairness of looking, sometimes without reason, at the mother as necessarily the better parent.

A fathers' legal rights movement has been born, and has attracted much attention at state legislative levels, Tennessee among them. Our lawmakers have responded with adjustments in our child custody and child support laws. And we've stayed current with their changing views, at Causey & Caywood, Attorneys at Law.

A Wake-Up Call for Dads

Fathers used to naively assume that, when their child's mother hired a divorce attorney to put together papers legally finalizing their breakup, such a document would seek a fair agreement satisfactory to all parties. Fathers mistakenly think they don’t need an attorney, because the mother's attorney has already done the work.

No more. Today, they realize that an attorney can only represent one client, and that any documents drawn up by that lawyer would represent only one client's best interests: their own.

If fathers' rights groups eventually have their way, the tradition of inequitable, mother-leaning legal custody arrangements which negatively impacts a father's future relationship with his children will become a thing of the past. This is leading to increased instances of joint custody in divorce decrees. More and more people are coming to see the unfairness of situations such as when a father wasn't granted "substantially equal time" with his children, and therefore might not have been legally entitled to help make decisions on the upbringing of the child.

At one time, the mother was even able to move away, take the children and move out of state, without any consequences. The father was powerless to oppose such a development, until now. If you think you have a fathers' rights case you'd like to propose, we want to hear about it at Causey & Caywood, Attorneys at Law.

Operators are Standing by

Our phone lines, fax number, and e-mail address are always open to accommodate your request for an initial consultation. We can tell you all you need to know about the fathers' rights concept as it applies to the custody side of your divorce. Contact our Memphis offices of Causey & Caywood, Attorneys at Law, today.