What If My Child Wants To Live With Me?
Let’s talk about how much weight the child’s wishes have in a custody case. What if your child wants to live with you? I have many people who come into my office and tell me that their child is telling them that they want to live with me full-time or they want to spend more time with me than they do with their mom or dad.
They reason that that should be the end of the story because my kid wants to live with me. I wish that the answer were that easy but it's not. In my Best Interest Checklist one of those factors is the interests or wishes of the child. A judge is going to consider the wishes of a child if that child is old enough to articulate his or her wishes. How old does a child have to be before a judge is going to start considering the child's wishes? It depends on the law, the judge, and your child.
There are some children who are more mature at 8 years old than other 10 years old. So really it depends on when your...
