Court-ordered parenting time reunites dad with sons in fathers’ rights case

Fathers’ Rights attorney Jeffery M. Leving helps fathers recover rights to see his children after the mother abruptly cut the father off from seeing his children. Leving discusses the case, family law, divorce proceedings, child custody and Dads’ rights during his weekly radio show on Saturday morning at 9 AM CST on 92.3 FM Radio.

A single father was happily and successfully raising his two sons, ages 9 and 7. He was separated from their mother, to whom he was never married, but enjoyed plentiful, regular parenting time with his two boys. Unfortunately, this parenting time wasn’t court-ordered, so it was entirely at the discretion and control of the mother.

A couple of months ago, the mother abruptly cut off all of Dad’s parenting time and kicked him to the curb.

“Dad was devastated when he was suddenly deleted from his sons’ lives,” says attorney Jeffery M. Leving, founder and president of the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd. in Chicago, who represented the father. “He called me to right this wrong.”

Leving will talk about the case on his weekly radio show, the Dads Rights Legal Hour, 9-10 a.m. CST Saturday, Aug. 14, on Power 92.3 FM in Chicago.

Dads' Rights Attorney Jeffery M. Leving. Specializing in Fathers' Rights, Family Law, Child custody, divorce proceddings — Dads’ Rights Attorney Jeffery M. Leving. Specializing in Fathers’ Rights, Family Law, Child custody, divorce proceddings

Leving immediately put together a strong legal team experienced in cases such as this: Where there is an informal parenting-time agreement that the mother suddenly yanks away. The Leving legal team went to court and argued for a parenting time schedule like the one Dad was enjoying before the mother ended it. “We told the judge that Dad has been a loving, caring and supportive parent since the birth of his kids, providing moral, emotional and financial support, and he had developed a close and loving relationship with the children,” Leving says. “We said parenting time for Dad was in the best interest of the children – those are my magic words. We won Parenting time for Dad, as he had before, is exactly what the judge ruled, and now Dad has this in a court order where it should be and he is back in his children’s lives.“

This is a crucial victory, modified for broadcast, that reunites dad with his children. This victory brought light into a very difficult time. “They belong together, and I’m happy that this upheaval in their lives – which was too long – is now over,” Leving says. “But it’s another case that supports my constant urging, generally speaking, that unmarried fathers should get their parenting time in a court order. You never know when your relationship with your children’s mother will change. Court-ordered parenting time can help safeguard your relationship with your children and protect their future.”

On his broadcast, Leving also will address domestic violence, which went up during the lockdown last year, and appears not to have come back down.

Studies show that domestic violence incidents increased 8.1% once pandemic-related lockdowns were ordered, and the reasons are clear: Spouses were working at home, or not working, or working essential jobs that exposed them to coronavirus, while their children were home from school, and parents were expected to help them with online schooling. Each day was scarier than the last, as we fretted about our health and our financial positions. Alcohol consumption added to the mix.

“Even though the lockdown has been over for a year, I’m still concerned about domestic violence, because many people are still stressed for the same reasons that applied during the lockdown, and they may not yet have the panoply of healthy outlets, such as sports, entertainment and in-person interaction with co-workers and friends, that can bring down their emotional temperature,” Leving says. “In my law practice, I see a shocking level of violence, or threats of violence, against men, much of which I know goes unreported because many men are ashamed to tell anyone they’re victims. I don’t wish in any way to diminish the harm that women suffer, but to call attention to men as domestic violence victims, which is often hidden from view.”

One in seven men have been victims of severe physical violence – beating, burning, strangling – by an intimate partner in their lifetime, and one in four men have experienced lesser forms of physical violence by an intimate partner – slapping, shoving, pushing – according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

What can we do? “One successful program teaches domestic violence offenders to recognize what triggers them, so they can collect themselves and not lash out. Also, I think our culture must reduce gender-based stereotypes that can push men and women beyond the breaking point,” Leving says.

(Jeffery M. Leving is founder and president of the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd., and is a strong advocate. He is the author of Fathers’ Rights, Divorce Wars and How to be a Good Divorced Dad, the latter of which was endorsed by President Obama and by Cardinal Francis E. George, then the archbishop of Chicago. To learn more about Leving and his latest court victories, follow him on Twitter and Facebook, and view his videos on You Tube.)