After mother’s death, girls find home with dad
Two little girls, ages 11 and 9, were living with their mother in the Western Suburbs of Chicago, and seeing their father on a regular basis. They had a good relationship with both parents, which is great.
Sadly, the mother died a few months ago – and this is when trouble began. According to court documents, a relative of the mother wanted to take the children away from Dad. This relative lived out of state, and the father feared she would take the children there, and he would seldom – or never – see his children again.
The father didn’t want to lose his daughters, so he called the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd. in Chicago. “My legal team went to court to make this point: A relative of their late mother wanted these kids, but the father’s right as the surviving parent is superior.
They should be placed with him. He is, after all, their dad, whose relationship with his girls is lifelong,” says Jeffery M. Leving, founder and president of the firm.
Leving will talk about the case on his weekly radio program, the Dads’ Rights Legal Hour, 9-10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 27 on Power 92.3 FM in Chicago.
The ruling: “We won,” Leving says.
The judge gave dad immediate and permanent possession of his children, sole parenting time and sole decision-making authority.
“I’m happy we got this great result for this dad and his children, but my concern is that we had to go to court and litigate. Our society should respect all loving and caring fathers, and if a child’s mother dies, placement of the children with such a father should be automatic.”
This situation is similar to the Elian Gonzalez case, except without the overlay of politics. That’s the case from the turn of the century when Elian, then age 5, was fleeing Cuba on a boat with his mother. The boat sank, the mother died, Elian survived, was rescued and brought to Florida, where relatives of the mother wanted to keep him. But his father in Cuba said no – I’m the father and as his surviving parent, my son should stay with me. Leving helped reunite Elian with his father, and won – just as his team won the case which he’ll discuss on the radio, which is modified for broadcast.
“The point here is that fathers are parents too, and if their children’s mother has the kids, and she dies, nobody should question that a loving and caring father, as the surviving parent, should have the right to raise his own kids,” 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.
Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.
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