Despite great strides made toward gender equality in recent decades, many people still have persistent ideas about the roles that men and women play in relationships. Without realizing it on a conscious level, you may automatically assume that a wife’s role is to care for the house and family and a man’s role is to support the household financially.
These expectations play into false beliefs that you may have, or have heard from others, about divorce. AZ Big Media explains that gender has no bearing on decisions relating to spousal support or child custody despite what many people still believe.
Alimony
Whether or not you receive alimony has nothing to do with whether you are a man or a woman. The court bases the decision on how much money you earn compared to your spouse. While other factors also come into consideration, the spouse who has a greater income typically ends up paying support to the one who makes less.
In the past, due to societal conventions that made it difficult for women to earn a living outside the home, a wife almost always received alimony from her ex-husband. Now, however, those conventions are largely a thing of the past. A wife earning more than her husband is starting to occur more often. Thus, many men are requesting and receiving alimony from their ex-wives.
Custody
Judges make family law decisions primarily on what is in the child’s interest. There are a number of complicated factors that go into custody decisions. Mothers do not get the kids by default. If you are a father, it is worth the effort to pursue custody arrangements that are fair to you, especially if you have been the child(ren)’s primary caregiver.
Contact our Chandler divorce attorneys today.