My parents have a joint custody of my brother and I, but I want to live with my mom because my dad is unsupportive. Is it easy to go to court and ask to live with your mom? How long will it take?
It is not easy for anyone to petition a court to change the child custody award.
It is even harder for a child to to petition a court to change the child custody award.
In fact, it is quite difficult in Utah, where I practice divorce and family law, to get a child custody order modified.
You’d save a lot of time and money and effort and heartache by simply moving in with your mother, refusing to reside with Dad, and defying the court’s child custody order.*
*Pay careful attention to my words you just read above. I stated that you would save a lot of time and money and effort and heartache by simply moving in with your mother, refusing to reside with Dad, and defying the court’s child custody order. I did not encourage or advise you to simply move in with your mother, refuse to reside with Dad, and defy the court’s child custody order.
Based upon my more than 20 years experience in this area, my observations of how child custody orders are enforced are: courts generally won’t force children (or try to force children) who are in the 14–18 years old range to live with a parent that those kids don’t want to live with. The easier it is to control a child, the more the courts are inclined to make them obey. But when you’re dealing with a kid who can drive a car (or hail an Uber) and/or take his mom or dad in a fight, it appears to me that courts usually feel that enforcing a custody order against a strong-willed child’s will may do more harm (to the child and the parents and to who knows who else) than good.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277