Life Courses of Separated Fathers are diverse, either regarding their material situation, or the relationships between ex-spouses or ex-partners and their control by law. Elaborating on a field work in the area of Paris 2009-2010, this paper analyses the conditions that may place certain men in a position where they are able to live their fatherhood in a way which seems legitimate to themselves, whereas others play a very limited role in their children’s lives and in the way it is organized after the beak up of the conjugal relationship.