This is a trick question. There is no age at which a child can make these decisions, until he/she turns 18 and the court no longer has jurisdiction over them.
There are, however, a few methods by which a child can have input in the process. 1. An attorney can be appointed for the child. If the child is old enough, the attorney can advocate for the child’s wishes; 2. If there is a custody evaluation, the child will be interviewed and the evaluator may take the child’s views into account; 3. The child can testify in court. I never have children testify and am opposed to it. Judges do not want children to be involved in the process and it is generally thought that the less a child can be involved in the process, the better. That being said, an attorney can help a parent to advocate for their child’s wishes.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I am a mother that lost custody because I moved to Texas. I was the phycological parent from the day he was born to he was 10. I was never married to his father and because I bought and sold houses I was considered unstable. My son’s attorney clearly knew that he wanted to be with me but ruled that he stay with the father rather than me because they felt he would be the better parent to continue a relationship with me etc. None the less I don’t speak to my son very often because they dont let him talk to me, they dictate my flight schedules causing me financial hardship, my son calls me crying saying that they talk bad about me, not covering my son on health insurance causing me to pay huge amounts in cash payments, and childsupport, not paying for his portion of flights, all on a $12hr salary. My question is since they didn’t listen to his wishes at 11 when will they consider his wishes? Can I file contempt because he is not living up to the court order making it easy for me to have a relationship with my son?
Mary:
Children are allowed to make decisions for themselves when they are no longer minors. However, as children approach 18, their preference has more weight. A key consideration is the ability to get the preference in front of a Judge. Judge’s almost unilformly dislike parents that ask children to testify in custody and parenting time proceedings. Talk to an attorney about getting a children’s attorney re-involved, or about doing a parenting time or custody study. In order for contempt to work as a remedy, there has to be a willful resistance to or obstruction of the court’s authority, process, order, or judgmetn. We previously blogged about contempt as a remedy for parenting time violations here. Contempt can also be used for some financial obligations. You should go over your judgment with an experienced family law attorney to see what can be done.