What Are a Fathers Custodial Rights Before Custody Hearings?
The custodial rights of a father prior to a custody hearing are based in part on his legal relationship with the mother of the child. Additionally, the custodial rights of a father depend in part of the historical extent of contact and interaction he maintained with the child. Function A father’s custodial rights are to protect his inherent interest in maintaining a meaningful relationship with his child–even before a formal custody hearing commences, if at all possible. Paternity In advance of the commencement of a paternity case in which a paternity hearing is conducted, a father is vested with no substantial legal custody rights. He is not yet deemed to be the father of a child from a legal standpoint and can be denied access to the child until further order of the court. Divorce A father’s custodial rights during a divorce proceeding are the same as the mother’s, absent a demonstration that the father’s rights should be limited. In other words, under the law today a father theoret
