I am a divorce and family lawyer. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a court anywhere in this country (USA) that would consider a mother temporarily receiving unemployment benefits while attending school improve her career to earn a better living for her and her child(ren) unfit or unstable or otherwise unfit to be awarded joint custody of the child(ren) with the other parent.
If Mom making fraudulent claims of attending school improve her earning capacity, when in fact she is just taking the “perpetual student” lazy person’s way out, there’s nothing wrong with exposing that.
If your argument is that a mother who works cannot divide her time and attention between employment and caregiving to take adequate care of a child, there are some real world scenarios where that is true, but generally, most parents (married or separated) both work in today’s world.
Would you be happier with paying to support both the mother and the child financially (*i.e.*, be careful what you wish for; you might get it)?
Or are you a stay-at-home father who does not need to work to obtain sufficient income? If you are arguing that the working mother should not be awarded equal physical custody of the child(ren) because you can provide full-time care for the child(ren) without having to place them in daycare during the work day, that is an argument that may get some traction when opposing an award of equal physical custody, but I have a problem with that argument because it tends to punish financially responsible people who must work to support themselves.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277
