My Child Wants To Live Only With Me, My Ex-Husband And I Have Joint Custody. Is This Possible?
Today, our question comes from Mariah, and her question is, concerns her 14-year-old who wants to live with her only, and no longer wants to visit his dad. The parties have joined physical custody per the court order.
Mariah comes to me and says, can I do this, what do I need to do, is this possible? So, my answer to her is this, first and foremost. The judges in Nevada are very hesitant to interview children as they don’t want to put the kids in the middle and traumatize them by having to make a choice between parents. This is a very serious position to put children in and the courts really try to stay away from that as much as possible.
If the judge does agree to an interview, it will use third parties, such as therapists, psychiatrists, child advocates, anybody, social workers, or anybody other than the judge, they try to avoid it. But if they do it, that’s who they use most of the time to conduct the interview.
The child’s wishes are something that the judges will listen to, and consider, but it plays a very, very small part in the judges’ decision as to whether to change custody from joined to primarily based on the child’s wishes. The courts believe in Nevada that is in the best interest of the children always to have both parents in their lives. And for that reason, it’s a little bit of a hard hurdle to jump through. You must have good reasons why the child doesn’t want to go to one parent, and you must present that to the court in the best possible light considering the child’s best interest.
When the judges do listen to the kids it’s because the kids are mature for their age. They have good grades; they are honest and responsible. They show that they are responsible for their age and they’re not asking to go to one parent’s home versus the other, because one parent is a Disneyland parent and the other one is strict. For that reason, the courts are very hesitant to listen to the kids and use the children’s wishes as the only reason for changing custody.
It’s a hurdle that must be jumped through and you must have a good reason for that.
If you find out that your child does not want to go to the other parent’s house because maybe a possible abuse going on, then you need to immediately file a motion with the court and report this to the appropriate agencies to handle this kind of abuse.
Remember if you want to do this if your child says that he wants to, or she wants to live with only one parent remember that the court’s preference is joint custody, you must have a good, good reason.
I hope this has answered this question. If you want to discuss this further, go to vegasdivorcemeeting.com.
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