[quote=NYMom]
Rest assured, having lived this for the last 12 years, I have thought of all of these scenarios, including and especially, the prospect of being “trapped” in CA with my children, should things not work out. Gaining the knowledge regarding how the courts view stay-at-home mothers, however, was definitely eye-opening, so thank you for that valuable commentary.

[/quote]

You’re not the only one who is/will be surprised by this. It’s a movement that’s been gaining momentum over the past 10-15 years. They call it the “Father’s Rights Movement,” but it’s really the second (and subsequent) wives who are the engine behind the whole thing. They didn’t like that the men they married still had obligations to their first families, so they’ve been pushing to reduce and eliminate alimony and child support payments to the first families. It has nothing at all to do with father’s rights, and everything to do with the greed of the women who knowingly take on a man with other obligations, then fight to eliminate those obligations to their other families.

And it’s disgusting that feminism — a movement that purports to help women — is actually behind pulling the rug out from under women. Funny how a movement that claims to advocate for women’s causes is leading the charge in denigrating the work that has traditionally been done by women. If they really wanted to advocate for women and women’s rights, they would officially recognize this work, impute a monetary value to it, and advocate for protections for the workers/women who do it.