Fathers in Georgia are at a marked disadvantage when it comes to child custody. As many states are moving toward encouraging equal time spent with the mother and father, this state isn’t really doing this, which means that dads aren’t getting the time they need to forge strong relationships with their children.
Custody X Change did a study regarding parenting time. If you average out the results for all states, fathers only receive about 35 percent of child custody time. The news is even worse for dads in Georgia. Fathers here get just 23.5 percent of the parenting time, which means that mothers are getting more than three-fourths of the time with the children.
Only four states rank worse for fathers than Georgia. These are Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee. The most common custody schedule that is followed in our state is that the child is with the father on the first and third weekend of each month based on a Friday start. They get four weeks during the summer. Major holidays are alternated, but dads have the children on Father’s Day and moms have them on Mother’s Day.
Some parents opt to use the mediation process to come up with a custody agreement. This enables each parent to have a say in what happens. Some noncustodial parents might find that this allows them to have more time with the children than if they battle the case out in court. Any parent who is facing custody challenges should find out what reasonable legal options exist and then move forward from there.
