Comments on: At what age can a child decide custody/parenting time?

By: Stephens Margolin

Stephens Margolin — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:15:32 +0000

There is a lot you can do, and the court would give great weight to your daughter living with you successfully for a year in a modification. I recommend that you call to talk through he procedural aspects of the case.

By: Roxanne

Roxanne — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:20:56 +0000

I have a sixteen year old daughter that has been living with me for almost a year due to her mother and her always fighting. My daughter was taken from her mom a few years back by cps but then the mom got custody again. My daughter cant stand her mom. Her mom even physically attacked her then lied to the police about it. Her mom tries to control her but does nothing for her, no money, no food no roof over her head. But i still pay child support for my daughter. My ex wife still gets food stamps because she has custody of her and she still claimed her on her income tax. I want my daughter and she wants me to have custody. But i dont know where to take it from here. Any advice?

By: Mia

Mia — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 06:56:57 +0000

…..and how much do you think we could do by ourselves in the court system?

By: Mia

Mia — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 06:53:05 +0000

My husband has a 10 yr old daughter from his previous marriage.
It all started with a judge in hillsboro stating at the start of their divorce hearing that he had already decided but they had 30 mins to make statements. After a half hour of what felt like a waste of time, the judge ordered her full custody and him every other weekend and alternating holiday/summer scheds.

Over the 8 years since their divorce she has violated their parenting agreement on numerous occasions even as far as to move from Portland to Texas for a year and a half with 2 days notice. Sadly my husband believed her when she said she would have opportunities down there that she didn’t here and that it was best for their daughter so he did not file contempt. Turns out she moved down their and lived off a boyfriend’s mother and the $900/mo his daughter gets from disability because her father was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2007. Now she lives in Hillsboro with no income besides her daughters survivor benefits and got CPS called by the school within a few months of being back in the state.

We’re starting to worry about his daughter because the 2 times we’ve been allowed to see her(supposed to be every other weekend by parenting plan) since they’ve returned to the state(3+months), his daughter has been smelly and in dirty clothes and shorts and no coat(it was snowing 2 days before we picked her up). She also complains that eating 3 times a day is too much, that she is ok with a spoonful of peanut butter until dinner because that is what she does at mom’s house. All the clothes she brings over are dirty and most are 2-4 sizes too small. She claims she has never been to the dentist. Strange rashes for weeks. All these things caused my husband to contact her mother to meet and discuss ways he could help but his ex is very argumentative and abusive through text or email, since that is the only way she will communicate with him.

In the end his daughter needs more care, we can give it to her but he lives on a fixed income and I am currently in school so an attorney is a big expenditure so I guess my question is:

Based off my long winded description, do you think my husband has a good chance of getting full custody in Washington County?

Thanks so much for your time,
Mia

By: sharon L. elkins

sharon L. elkins — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:52:34 +0000

I have a 16 year old son and his paternal grandmother got temp custody of him throughout the divorce due to his father being violent and agressive and we were both usiing drugs. That was for 4 years. at the time of the divorce his father got custody in oklahoma court, where we lived. By that time i had moved to arkansas to live near my mother. I fought addiction for several years and have many felony convictions for which i ended up going to RCF which is a correctional facility but their focus is rehabilitation from addiction. I was there for 11 months and got successful completion. Ive been out 8 months and have remained clean and sober for 18 months now. Im active in recovery and i volunteer at a womens recovery center, attend meetings a few times a week and am active in my church as is my husband of 5 years. he has no record of any kind. He is a retired marine. We have our own business and are financially capable of providing for my son. My son tells us that his dad threatens to kick him out and hit him often. He cries when forced to return to his dad after a visit. He wants to come live with us in ark. I was awarded standard visitation at time of divorce but his dad has never brought him to me or picked him up as the order stated. Will the judge consider my sons wishes, and the fact that ive been clean for a good amount of time?

By: Kendall Brooke Cooper

Kendall Brooke Cooper — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 03:29:41 +0000

Hello, I am a 16 almost 17 year old girl. I simply cannot stand living with my mom anymore because her and her “husband” are always verbally abusing me and ganging up on me. I’m in tears once a day over something they did to me. I’ve showed up to school with mascara down my face because they like to deal out ridiculous punishments first thing in the morning. All my friends, boyfriend, boyfriend’s mother, and my mother’s parents can all see I am miserable. But the only reason I haven’t moved in with my dad is because he lives in Austin and I would not want to switch schools. So to fix that problem, I’ve decided that I could state that I am living with my dad and then he gives consent for me to live with my mother’s parents so I can still attend the same school and graduate with my friends. I was just wondering if….
This is possible without going to court? And if I do have to go to court, would my feelings and views be taken into consideration in the final ruling?
Thanks. Any help is appreciated.

By: Stephens Margolin

Stephens Margolin — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:52:00 +0000

Santina:

While every case is fact dependent, if your daughter were given a voice in the process, either by having her own counsel, or by doing a parenting time study, the court would likely be interested in her input.

By: Santina

Santina — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:07:48 +0000

My daughter is 11 and she’s always lived with me. She has only seen her biological dad about 10-15 times. He went to prison and did alot of messed up stuff and he never had an interest to see my daughter. After he got his act together I left it up to her if she wanted to see him and she did a few times but the last time she visited with him she came home and said she didn’t want to see him ever again I found out it was because he had drank and drove with her in the car. I told him that she wasn’t comfortable visiting with him and this morning 6 months after the last time he seen her a sheriff shows up at my door with papers cause he wants visitation she doesn’t want to see him and I’m wondering if the courts are going to put her feelings into consideration?

By: Mich

Mich — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:50:20 +0000

My son who is now 16 has decided that he wants to live with his father. I have full legal custody of him and his 17 year old sister. His father was an emotionally abusive drug addict for most of the live of my children. I divorced him 3 years ago to get my children out of this situation. He would use drugs for a while and clean up, then use again and clean-up. After several years of this, I finally gave up hope that he would change and I got a divorce. He has a felony charges for meth about 6 years ago and a probation violation 5 years ago and various other charges such as a DUII and transporting Marijuana when he was 18. He has been in numerous bar fights since our divorce. He now has a medical marijuana card and grows it in his font yard. My son wants to live with him because his father will let him do things I will not. What are the chances that a judge would listen to my son’s wishes and grant him custody? His father told me he looked into it and because my son is 16 they will let him decide. is this true? I have a stable christian home and remarried a wonderful man who loves and cares for my children. My income way exceeds his fathers and I am able to provide for him financially. His father does not have a steady income. I’m so scared to have my son with his father when I’m not there to protect him, but everyone i talk to tells me I wont win in court because he gets to decide and his father has not used meth in over 3 years.

By: Stephen Engan

Stephen Engan — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:43:38 +0000

My daughter has lived with me since May 2010 a few months of that were with my sister but under my support. I found out her Mom was abusing drugs then selling. My daughter got caught with drugs we had a long talk she told me what was going on. I went to the police they couldnt really help me. I called CPS they called her Mom and gave her 3.5 days to get ready for an interview while my daughter was in front of her Mom she said nothing was wrong. She wanted out of the house to many drug abusers were there. I have a son 11 I took them both to Florida for 2 months while I went back and resigned from my job in MS they satyed with my sister in FL. after 2 months there Mom wanted them back my son wanted to go back my daughter didnt she was doing great in Florida. I let my son go back because his mom moved to her Dads in Georgia he is a minster there. My daughter stayed with me she didnt want to be with her Mom . I gave her Mom 2 k for support but didnt get an IOU she was giving it to me the next day that never happened.
Bottom line I paid thru sept on support then stopped Child welfare garnished my check in August I pay 173 a week we struggle because of that My daughter made early college here she wroks out with me an has lost over 40 lbs her GPA is over 4.0 and she doesnt want anything to do with drugs. We need her support money for her school and to survive. i called and asked her Mom to adjust she laughed she is a sick person.
I hired a lawyer in MS and paid 3700 an got nothing done I think the rumors are he went bankrupt. I dont have enough money for another lawyer. MS CPS doesnt want to listen to me Florida CPS did though when her Mom tried to have her removed from school here they stopped her. I want a fair support agreement I do want to pay for my son until he wants to live here…he does want to visit she wont let him its been over a year an a half.
What can I do my funds are so limited because of support …I need help