Some divorced North Carolina fathers may find themselves struggling to maintain ongoing relationships with their children. They often face issues when they try to work within a court system that is sometimes biased in favor of the mothers even when the fathers are good parents.
In a lot of child custody cases, parents may be given legal custody with both having the right to attend appointments and get educational information about their children. In practice, however, the mother may be the person who schedules the appointments, leaving the father at her mercy to share information.
Fathers are sometimes unjustly accused of being abusive, lazy, or otherwise reprehensible. This may lead to courts granting them only the minimum amount of visitation time even though the accusations are false. Fathers do have rights to their children, and they may need to fight in order to make certain they are able to exercise them. Some fathers do not realize that they have just as many rights to parent their children as do the mothers.
Parental rights are considered to be fundamental in nature. When one parent is violating the rights of the other to have access to a child, a family law attorney may be able to help. If the other parent is actively interfering with a person’s access to his or her child under an existing order, the attorney may file a motion asking that the court holds that parent in contempt. Children have been shown to be better adjusted when they have access to both parents, which is something people should keep in mind.