‘Winner take all’ system is broken

Regarding the Dec. 6 article, “Supreme Court rules against rights to an attorney in divorce/custody case”:

Brenda King appealed to the state Supreme Court because she “lost custody” of her children to her ex-husband, arguing she should have been provided an attorney at public expense. She still gets to see her children every other weekend, which is what 85 percent of what divorced fathers get.

Ms. King had a free appeals attorney, plus eight amicus groups including retired judges, scholars and the State Bar on her side. If these groups are so concerned about parents losing their children after divorce, why aren’t they lobbying the Legislature for presumptive shared parenting, SB 5234 and HB 2345?

Let’s get family court reformed to a European legal system of reconciliation and emphasize future harmony and health for all the parties. Children need both parents involved in their lives after divorce, and the only way that can happen is to have a real, and substantial, residential schedule for both parents. Real child support is not only food, clothes and housing, but consistent guidance, and hugs, too.

The last thing innocent children need is more lawyers in family law proceedings. The first thing kids need is the ongoing love and affection, at no public cost, of their other parent and family members.

The solution to the “winner take all” custody system is not taxpayer-paid lawyers who with the court system foment additional dissent and subsidize and encourage divisiveness in a process that does nothing but feed the jackals and bottom-feeders found around courtrooms. We need to stop taking children away from good, competent and loving parents just because they get divorced.

Mark Mahnkey

Director, Public Policy