Mike Espinoza's life has become a stereotype. Like divorced fathers across the country, the Apache Junction flooring installer crams a life with his sons into every other weekend and a few weeks in the summer.

He's furious about it and is trying to change it.

And while he hasn't yet won more time with his own children, he has given Arizona fathers a better chance at equal parenting time. In the process, he's become a role model to his 8- and 10-year-old sons.

"I could really care less about dads' rights or moms' rights," said Espinoza, 41. "But when you look at the research and the effect it has on children, how could anyone not take note of that? It's time for equal time and equal custody."

Over the past three years, he has worked with state lawmakers, judges, lawyers, university researchers and activists to change Arizona divorce and custody laws.

In 2010, Espinoza successfully pushed to change Arizona law to state that, unless there is evidence of domestic violence or drug use, it is in the child's best interest to have "substantial, frequent, meaningful and continuing parenting time with both parents."

A law he helped pass this year, which goes into effect in January, further encourages joint parenting, including requiring the court to adopt a plan that "maximizes" both parents' time with the child and forbids the court from giving one parent preference based on the parent's or child's gender.

"It's equal," Espinoza said. "A child deserves to have both parents."

Research shifts status quo

For decades, professionals who decided custody cases usually made mom the primary caregiver.

Mental-health experts, lawyers and judges generally agreed that a father should play a role in his child's life, but they gave little thought to the quantity of that involvement.

"They thought it best for the kids to stay in the same home, have one parent, one set of rules and not be schlepping around all the time," said Arizona State University psychology professor Bill Fabricius. "If dad showed up every once in a while, maybe once a week, and of course paid child support, that's all you needed him for."

But that's starting to change, and Arizona is among the states leading the way.

About 12 years ago, Fabricius, a divorced father himself, realized that most of the research on children of divorce focused on moms.

"They were the only ones interviewed about how they were doing, how the kids were doing, how the ex was doing," said Fabricius, a developmental psychologist who focuses on children. "It struck me that no one was really systematically getting the child's perspective."

During the 2005-06 school year, he interviewed more than 1,000 college students, seeking their perspective in a questionnaire about divorce and their relationship with both parents.

"We immediately found things that were contrary to what the literature was saying," he said. "Essentially all of the students, women and men, felt that the best arrangement for kids after divorces was to spend equal time with both parents. It was an incredible finding."

He began to research whether spending equal time with Dad could somehow benefit children in the long term, and he found that it did.

"A child's relationship with Mom and Dad equally predict physical health, mental health, behavioral health and early mortality," he said. "Kids were right. Equal time was best."

Fabricius said biology doesn't appear to matter; it's just about who a child attaches to and considers a parent.

"If a child feels like a parent is there for them, they have a sense of security," he said. "If they aren't, the child tends to ruminate about that and feel insecure. And when you do that, stress hormones are chronically secreted into your bloodstream and tend to shut down your immune system, interfere with digestion, raise blood pressure, interfere with brain function and leave you susceptible to mental and physical disease years later."

Studies by other researchers have reached similar conclusions.

Psychologist Arnold Shienvold, president of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, a professional and educational organization for judges, attorneys, therapists and researchers who work with family courts, confirmed that research shows children adjust better if they have quality relationships with both parents, as long as both parents possess adequate parenting skills and don't have substance abuse, domestic violence or mental-health issues.

"Mothers tend to be more on a comfort, nurturing continuum and do more rule-setting, especially with younger children. Dads tend to be more playful and engaging," he said. "A child needs both of those things to socially adapt and be well adjusted."

He said that research has bolstered legislation that encourages shared custody.

Fabricius, who has shared his research with lawmakers in other states, worked with the state Legislature's Domestic Relations Committee to update custody laws. Espinoza joined the effort in 2010.

Initiating change

After divorce courts granted Espinoza limited access to his sons, he searched for a way to change state laws he thought had worked against him.

He found it when he walked into the office of state Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake.

"I sat down and told her my story. I'm just a carpet layer, but I'm pissed, I'm frustrated."

Allen encouraged him to join the Domestic Relations Committee, which researches family-law issues and proposes new legislation.

Members include anti-domestic-violence organizations, attorneys, judges, parents, faith-based organizations and state lawmakers.

Espinoza worked with Sen. Linda Gray, R-Glendale, and other members of the committee to draft legislation, and then rewrite the bills after they failed or other lawmakers watered them down. He testified before state lawmakers, and he told his story to anyone who would listen.

"It was a long process," he said. "But we're now seeing judges, especially in Maricopa County, giving a lot more 50/50 time when it's in the best interest of the child."

The Arizona Supreme Court does not keep data on how judges rule in custody cases. Statistics from outside research groups are outdated, showing courts awarded joint custody to parents 5 percent of the time in 2002 and 15 percent of the time in 2007.

But both Espinoza and Fabricius said they have heard from court staffers that judges are awarding more joint-parenting time.

Two of Espinoza's sons, Logan, 10, and Justice, 8, met with Allen and Gray, and watched their father testify before committees.

Espinoza named one of the laws he worked on after his 12-year-old son, Ammon, whom he hasn't seen in four years because of the court's custody ruling. The two must go through reunification counseling, which they haven't done.

"I wanted to teach them how one man can make a difference," Espinoza said.

He thinks more still needs to be done and he continues to work with lawmakers to draft additional changes to state custody laws.

"We need fathers and mothers who have lost custody to be able to get back in court easier," he said.

But he said the public also needs to get involved. "The laws are changing. Now I want people to stand up and say they support them, offer their own ideas for change and become involved," he said. "Quit allowing things to happen to you."

Despite everything he's gone through, Espinoza remains idealistic.

He hopes that if courts assure both parents have parenting time, divorcing spouses will stop fighting over custody.

"When there's nothing left to fight about, hopefully the divorce rate will go down and families will stay together," he said. "Families need to stay together."

Ariz. leading change

Arizona is among the states leading the push for shared parenting time, according to Mike McCormick, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based American Coalition for Fathers and Children.

The Minnesota Legislature passed a bill this year that would have given the non-custodial parent at least 35 percent parenting time, but the governor vetoed it.

Non-custodial parents in Texas and Florida can now get about 40 percent of parenting time, McCormick said. Illinois is considering legislation that would give both parents at least 35 percent.

States' statutes and requirements relating to custody vary widely, but McCormick said judges nationwide tend to limit the non-custodial parent's access.

"(The requirements have) all been interpreted to mean every other weekend and a couple of hours one alternating week for dinner one night," McCormick said. "That's what's known as standard visitation around the country."

He said activists like Espinoza are changing that.

"Mike epitomizes what a good father is all about. He's one of those guys that says, 'This is not right, and we've got to do something about it,' " he said. "And what we've seen in Arizona since the laws started changing in 2010 is judges awarding more time to the traditional non-custodial parent. We're looking for that trend to continue."

McCormick's views are based on anecdotal evidence.

Fabricius said Arizona public-opinion polls and interviews he's conducted with Arizona judges show there is increasing agreement that shared parenting is best.

But he said attorneys, mental-health experts and others who work with divorcing parents still need to do more public outreach, particularly to parents who go through the divorce process outside of court.

But while many experts agree children need access to both parents in most situations, the trend is not without controversy. Activists for mothers' rights say the research is a ploy to help fathers.

Shienvold, the psychologist, said states also risk going too far. He believes laws should continue to require courts to focus on the best interest of the child, and not make shared parenting the default ruling.

"There are situations in which shared custody is not best," he said. "There is research that has said if parents are not cooperating and not voluntarily choosing shared custody, children's measures of adjustment aren't as good. The more conflict, the worse it is for the children."

Groups that combat domestic violence also are watching the effort closely to assure that it doesn't expose children to an abusive parent.

Arizona Foundation for Women CEO Jodi Liggett said the group supports co-parenting when it's done with a minimum of conflict.

"Good, involved fathers prevent domestic violence by being role models to their sons and showing their daughters that men appreciate them," she said. "But the law is a clumsy instrument, and there are always special situations."

She also said state law should still give top priority to the best interest of the child.

The Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence initially opposed the law but is now neutral on it after working to make slight alterations.

Arizona's new law still requires judges to make decisions based on the children's best interest, but their best interest now includes maximum time for both parents.

And Fabricius said Arizona's new laws have clear exceptions for situations like domestic violence.

Fighting for time

While Espinoza and other Arizona fathers are hopeful about the impacts of the new laws, they aren't a magic solution for every situation. Divorces are messy, emotional and complicated.

Espinoza's situation is proof of that.

Sitting in the tiny kitchen of the Apache Junction trailer where he now lives, Espinoza regrets how his contentious divorce has changed his sons' lives -- and his own.

Court records show that he has spent the past several years in and out of court exchanging allegations and restraining orders with his ex-wife. There have been battles over property, debts, unpaid child support and the children.

"Things get messy in a contested case," Espinoza admitted. "Some people walk away, and take what they get. I'm not going to do that."

As he talks about his efforts to change Arizona laws, Logan and Justice wander over often to check on him. Espinoza hugs them and rubs their buzzed heads before they return to the family room to play video games.

Espinoza said he has taken hours of parenting classes. He spends what time he does have with the boys playing football, going to the movies or just wrestling the way boys and dads tend to do.

He is proud of who his sons are becoming despite having been through their parents' divorce.

"They are fantastic, well-behaved, very mild-mannered and very patient with each other," he said.

Logan and Justice say they're proud of their dad.

"He's doing all this so kids in Arizona can see their parents if they want to," Logan said. "He's amazing to me. He's my role model. He's changing laws, and he's fighting for us. It's really cool."

But their older brother, who hasn't seen his dad in years, feels differently. He doesn't want his dad using him as a weapon in the ongoing court battles with his mom. He doesn't want his dad to fight to see him.

"He knows I don't want to see him," Ammon said. "Kids should get some say too. It shouldn't just be up to the parents."