UK Mothers do not have an Automatic Right to Custody of Children

In the UK, 92% of children whose parents have broken up live with their mothers. This is despite the fact that the laws surrounding who gets custody of children do not stipulate the gender of the parent the children should reside with, and never has. In law it is the children who have the right to have contact with both parents.

How This Situation has Come About?

The practice of awarding custody (these days called a Residence Order) to the mother over the father has come about mostly because of the way society views mothers, rather than what the law says. For centuries, mothers have been seen as the main carer and nurturer of the children. Society seemed to be content to cast the father in the role of provider. He was the person who went out and earned the money to pay for the essentials of life.

In reality, fathers do far more than that. Numerous studies show that children need their fathers love and support as much as they need their mothers. Despite this, thousands of children have had to grow up without much meaningful contact with their fathers.

Fathers Can Seek Custody (Residence Order)

It is hoped that more men will realise that they can actually seek custody of their children, and do so. At Hylton-Potts, we have helped many fathers to get better visitation rights, and secure custody of their children, and would like to help more men with this very important issue. We fight for all our clients but never more than fathers in this situation,

We work closely with Families need Fathers. If the mother defies a court order, forget about trying to have her locked up. It is not going to happen. Far better to seek a Residence Order, with our help, so their main base is with you and you can decide when she sees the children. It may work, and even if it does not it will give her a very nasty fright, and she may behave herself.