Beis din says being a father is not a right but an obligation

Divorces can often be nasty, and it often does not get any better after the divorce is over. Many couples (or ex-couples), though obviously not all, continue to fight well after the fact. Probably the most common thing to fight about is the children; Custody, visitation, paying for expenses, and the like.

A beis din in Haifa has issued a psak regarding a divorce case in which after the divorce the kids did not want to visit their father, seemingly upon the encouragement and perhaps incitement of their mother.

The father, obviously upset about this, sued to have his child support payments lowered or canceled entirely until he would be allowed to visit with his children as per the arrangements as set in the divorce..

The beis din researched the issue from halachic, legal and psychological perspectives and decided that the mother must send the children to therapy for this and her behavior in preventing them from getting therapy and from seeing their father is unacceptable. They decided that from a halachic perspective there is enough reason to justify lessening the child support payments, or altering how they are made. They said that if she does not renew his visitation rights within four months, his child support  payments will go directly to the kids when he visits with them rather than to her.

This goes along with another psak from  a beis din in Ashqelon that said that visitation with parents is not a right of the mother or father, rather it is part of their parental obligations and responsibilities towards the children.
source: Behadrei

interesting new perspective with powerful ramifications.

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