So I want to ask my dad to divorce my mom. She has a troublesome personality, to say. I’m currently 16 and the relationship between not just me and my mother, but also the one between her and my father,…
How can I help my 12-year-old step daughter get away from an emotionally abusive mother? Tell the child’s father (your husband) about the trouble and have him handle it. It’s not legally your fight. You should certainly share your observations…
I can’t speak for all jurisdictions, but I can tell you that in the jurisdiction where I practice divorce and family law (Utah), currently the child’s preference for one parent over the other is not expressly among the factors specified…
What would happen if a parent were to sue a child for every single penny they spent on raising such a child and the judge were to rule in the parent’s favor? You’d likely have an incompetent and/or biased judge. …
So, the question is this: if I am the parent to whom custody of our child was awarded, and that child doesn’t want to live with me anymore, what can I do to stop this child from living with the…
First, you need to understand that you’re asking the wrong question. Child custody is not a zero-sum game; otherwise stated, when parents divorce, or when unmarried parents separate, where you get the idea that the children must be in the…
I am the noncustodial parent. Our child came to my house for parent-time and now refuses to leave because he wants to live with me. What happens now? I will answer this question in the context of my experience as…
How do I console a father who has lost custody of his child? “He’s [the father who lost custody] permanently damaged.” That’s what someone else wrote in response to your question. It’s true. Time lost between a parent and child…
What is a complete list of reasons someone can file child support that cannot be fought? There is no such list; however, here is my list of pretty dang safe bets that you’ll be paying child support if one or…
What policies and factors determine how child support is calculated? This is a good question and a question that many parents ask. Every state in U.S. has child support calculation guidelines and formulae to determine which parent pays child support…
Are there laws that protect one parent from being a victim of the other parent’s continuous reporting, through the other parent’s attorney, about violations of a restraining order that are all lies? Are there laws that protect one parent from…
If a parent disappears for five years, what are his/her chances of winning child custody? As long as 1) Dad’s story/situation isn’t worse than Mom’s, and 2) Dad’s not responsible for Mom being out of the picture for 5 years,…
If a parent exceeds parent-time by an hour or so, what can I do? Our custody order provides that child visitation is 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. My ex and I agreed by e-mail to change it to 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. But now my ex picks up at 10 and returns the child at 4 p.m. instead of 3 p.m., Is there…
Can a parent legally keep the other parent from the children? Can a parent (married or unmarried) legally keep the other parent from the children without having gone to court? Yes. It can be done under certain circumstances. In the…
How can my friend leave the father of her baby and get full custody, when she doesn’t trust him to look after the baby by himself? The mother (or any parent in such a situation) would need to prove, by…
What happens after an affair when you have kids? I’ll answer as if this question were asked in the belief that the affair will have a profound effect upon child custody, child support, and/or alimony. If you’ve had an extramarital…
Can a parent discipline a child by taking the child’s phone away? Before researching this question, I thought the answer was obvious. It’s not. As a both a lawyer and a parent myself, I always believed that I had control…
Why does a parent asking questions turn into a trial? A parent questioning a child often turns into “a trial” when either 1) the child questioned is guilty of wrongdoing and does not want to be exposed or 2) the…
Why is it OK to allow a 14-year-old child to deny one parent access to him/her without any reason, but it is kidnapping if the child were to refuse to live with either parent and instead live with an adult…
For others reading this answer to your question who do not know what a “baby prenup” is, let me first describe it: What a “baby prenup” is not A “baby prenup” is not, as the name might connote, a small or…