In a divorce case, how do you decide who gets contact?

One of the toughest things about any divorce is how custody of the children is handled.  Which parent should the children stay with?  How often should the other have access to the children? How much of that time should be delegated and assigned by the courts?

That very issue is at stake right now in the UK, where ministers are working to make sure that fathers are still able to have access to their children after the marriage breaks down. On one level this seems perfectly innocent, after all, shouldn't children have a right to see both parents? 

Charlie Elphicke MP, a leading campaigner on fathers rights, said: "This is a really welcome step forward. It is something that I feel passionately about. It is a positive step forward for the welfare of children in contract to the muddled and confused thinking of the Norgrove report."

According to the Office for National Statistics, one in three children, equivalent to 3.8million, lives without their father. Ministers are particularly concerned about boys growing up without a strong male influence. Eight per cent of single parents in Britain are fathers.

But not everyone agrees that this is something the courts should be involving themselves in.

Brenda Long, Partner, Blandy & Blandy, said: “A legal guarantee of ‘equal access’ however, is not the answer as there are still many cases where equal care is neither practical nor desirable.

“As the Australian experience demonstrates, statements of parental rights merely shift the battle ground and risk putting parents’ rights above the best interests of the children.

“Parents need access to more information about the effects on children of a court fight and how to resolve disputes.”

Robin Charrot, a partner in Manchester-based George Davies Solicitors LLP family, added: “It is hard to see how any re-writing of the law is going to help the current situation.

 Read the entire story over at the Telegraph.