Chandler Divorce Lawyer - Do Children Get To Decide Who They Are Going To Live With?
That"s such a good question. You know, there are two answers to that, really.
First of all, a child under the age of 14 does not make a decision as to who they"re allowed to live with. However, a child over the age of 14 can be interviewed by the court. Once they"ve been interviewed--it will be by somebody called a parenting coordinator, a court-appointed coordinator--and that individual will take the child"s opinions into consideration after discussing with the parents where the child should live.
The test that Arizona uses is called the Best Interest Test. The best interest of the child.
It"s been determined that a child under the age of 14 should not be making that type of decision. But a child over the age of 14 has the mental faculties to do that.
Now, both parents also have the right to have their own input. They"ll also talk to the parenting coordinator about what they think is influencing the child or why they think it"s in the best of the child to move from one parent to the other.
Where I see the most difficulty is for parents who"ve just recently divorced and a child is saying, "Well, I don"t want to go to mom or dad"s house." And that can be for a variety of reasons. It may not have anything to do with the divorce. They simply don"t want to go.
A parent will take that information and think, "Wow, I should make a change to the parenting plan. They simply shouldn"t have to go to mom or dad"s house."
That"s a bad decision. You still need to be a parent and you still need to support the other parent, even though the two of you are no longer husband and wife.
Remember the test is, under the age of 14, you and your husband or your husband or your wife " those two parties need to make the decisions together as mother and father. The court won"t make any changes unless there"s some severe psychological or type of domestic violence abuse against the child by that particular parent.
That"s really the test that you"re looking for. They don"t have as much decision making. They"re still kids. That"s my point. They"re still kids, and you still have to be their parent. Though they might want to move, kind of decide if the decision is a good one. If they"re moving to your home, is it a good idea they do it? Are they doing it for the right reasons?
And vice versa, if they"re moving out of your home, moving in with the other parent, is that going to be good for you as a family? Because even after divorce, though you might not be husband and wife, you are still a family.
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