Mothers' Rights

Our firm has won custody for mothers in high profile, tough cases against the recommendations of the law guardian and psychologists. When Bryan Salamone & Associates, P.C. started handling mother’s rights cases, we assumed the mother would obtain custody or retain custody in any given case, unless the mother had certain issues, such as:

• Drug addictions
• Mental impairment
• A history of poor parenting
• An otherwise negative history of parenting

This is no longer true. Over 80% of the almost 1,000 cases we handle each year involve custody disputes. It is now commonplace for the man (father) to seek custody, or joint custody at the very least. This is partly because of a man’s ability to work from home in this “information age” and partly due to changes in the law.

Cultural changes affect mother’s rights

To complicate matters, a woman’s position in the workplace has risen, in most instances, to being equal to a man’s. Both men and woman are working full-time immediately after a child is born. Therefore, there is a colorable claim that the mother never actually had a chain of custody.

Child’s age—an influencing factor

In determining a mother’s rights, the age of a child is important. Children under two are almost never taken from the mother. It is almost a sure thing for a mother to obtain custody of her child, if the child is under two years old. Mothers are returning to nursing and natural breast feeding, which is dramatically increasing their ability to retain custody of newborns. A mother’s bond with a child is, not openly, but nevertheless obviously recognized by all judges in New York.
Mothers also seem to be the preferred custodial parent for teenagers. A child who attains the age of 14 (sometimes earlier depending on maturity) can often have a say as to who he or she wants to live with. It is our experience that a majority of cases involves children who want to live with their mothers. Interestingly enough, teenage daughters (more than 50%) state a preference to live with their father while teenage boys, almost 90% of the time prefer the mother.

Unspoken preference for the mother

Mothers’ rights include an unspoken preference for the mother to retain custody (it is subtle, but it still exists). And, in the event the parties do not agree and actually fight for custody, the father never has joint custody unless the case is settled. If the case goes to trial, the father is relegated to visitation or winning sole custody.

Contact us now for a free consultation at (631) 424-3597 or (516) 222-ATTY (2889).