Omaha Fathers' Rights Legal Blog
Many young people still choosing to cohabit
While fewer and fewer people in the United States are getting married, the number of couples who choose to cohabit without getting married continues to grow. According to one organization, the number of people cohabiting across the country rose from about 14 million in 2007 to about 18 million in 2016, an increase of 29 percent. During this same period of time, among people between 18 and 34, the increase was about 24 percent, from 7.2 million to 8.9 million. The number of people between 35 and 49 who were cohabiting increased 20 percent, from 3.9 million to 4.7 million.
Overall, the organization claimed that about 1 out of every 10 people between the ages of 18 and 49 were living with a partner without being married to them. Statistically speaking, this means that there are going to be more unmarried fathers both in the Omaha area and throughout the rest of the country. Many of these men will live with their children's mother and help her raise the family.
It's important to have paternity formally established
If you are a single father, you will know that the feeling of love you have for your child is more important than anything else. While you may not be on your child's birth certificate or otherwise formally recognized as the child's father, you may feel that this is an irrelevant detail that will have no impact on the way you bond with your child. However, not being legally recognized as the father of the child could have negative implications in the future.
If you are not legally recognized as the father of the child, this means that the mother could decide to withhold visitation at any time. This can be a very distressing situation to be in, and it can be avoided by taking appropriate action to establish paternity as soon as possible.
Overview of the contempt process
It is hard enough for an Omaha, Nebraska, dad who wants to be part of his child's life to negotiate a suitable parenting plan to enable him to enjoy court-ordered visits with his child. However, it can be even more frustrating when the child's mother disregards the plan altogether and denies the father parenting time. It is also frustrating when the mom repeatedly commits minor violations of the parenting plan that, when added together, are clearly a scheme to make the man's time with his child as difficult and unpleasant as possible.
Although other options may be available, the ordinary way to enforce a parenting plan under these circumstances is to ask the court that approved the plan to hold the mother in contempt for violating it. By requesting the court to hold the mother in contempt, the man is saying that the child's mother has willfully violated the parenting plan.
What happens if my child's mother passes away?
It is a sad reality that sometimes a child's mother will die while the child is still young, and this can happen in situations where the father of the child is not living in the same household.
While the most important thing in the immediate aftermath of such a tragedy is of course to offer comfort to the child, men should keep in mind that, among their fathers' rights, Nebraska law makes them what is called the natural guardian of their children, on par with the child's mother.
What circumstances could result in an uneven custody split?
Married couples in Nebraska considering divorce often have one issue that worries them more than anything else. The custody of minor children can be a contentious matter. It is not uncommon for couples to use custody as a way to punish one another.
Both spouses may be so focused on winning custody that they fail to consider how their arguments and tactics could impact their children. The focus on punishing their ex can make working together to parent in the future that much more difficult. Fathers and mothers can wind up resenting one another because of how things go in court.
What is verbal and emotional abuse?
As this blog has discussed on previous occasions, victims of physical abuse have the option of obtaining a protection order from a court in Nebraska that can help protect both them and their children. This is of course important when abuse has actually occurred.
On the other hand, when there has been no such abuse, protective orders and other formal accusations of abuse can be a somewhat daunting prospect for dads who may face the loss of custody and visitation rights or other serious consequences.
Types of protection orders for domestic abuse
To continue our discussion of the different types of protection orders available in Nebraska, a protection order for domestic abuse may well be the type of protection order that is most widely known to Omaha residents.
As its name implies, this type of order allows a judge to require a person to stay away from an alleged victim of domestic abuse and avoid contacting him or her. The judge may also order the target of the order to move out of his or her home if the alleged victim also lives there. The order may also require him or her not to go to certain locations, usually places where the alleged victim is likely to be, such as a place of employment.
Help your children share vacation plans with their mom
Going on vacation with your children is a fun experience, but it will take special considerations if you and their mom aren't in a relationship any longer. Even if you have the travel plans made, there is another facet of the vacation that you have to think about – memories.
Most children want to share their memories with both parents. This isn't an issue in many cases, but you might have to take some special steps to help the kids to show their mother what happened.
Study suggests modest progress in fathers' rights
A recent analysis of Census data suggests that dads may have made some progress, albeit slight, in showing courts that they are willing to and capable of being strong parental figures for their children. The study showed that there are, as of 2017, about 24 million children and teens under 18 living in a single parent home. Of those 24 million, over 50 percent of them, that is, 15 million, were residing with the mother.
On the other hand, three million, or over 12 percent, were residing with their father. To give some context to this latter number, it is less than the five million children who are living with two parents who happen not to be married.
Helping men who need to prove they are not the father
A previous post on this blog talked about how men in Omaha and, for that matter, throughout Nebraska can sign an acknowledgement of paternity in lieu of going through formal DNA testing to establish paternity.
Usually, signing this acknowledgement winds up to be a positive step toward allowing a dad to get an order setting parenting time with his child, as it is an efficient shortcut to going through a lengthy, and more expensive, court process.
Contact The Office
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The Law Offices of James A. Adams, P.C., L.L.O.
5822 S. 142nd Street, Suite A
Omaha,
NE
68137
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