Custody

Hi, I live in Idaho.

My husband and I are divorcing after 10 years. We have a 6 year old daughter. I would like to have primary custody with open visitation. He wants me to move out of the house,because I am the one who wants the divorce. What are my chances of getting custody if I move (in town)? I can't afford the house payment, if I stayed in the house would he have to pay spousal support and child support? I am looking into housing assistance. He is trying to tell me that I have to fiancially prove that I can support my daugther before I get primary custody, what do I have to prove to get my daughter?

If he's not beating you and you anticipate a custody fight, I think it's a bad idea to move out of the house without your daughter.

His argument will be that you didn't care and that you "abandoned" the child.

The other thing is that once you're out of the house, he can stop you from seeing your daughter by being a jerk. And there's nothing you can do about it until you get a court order dealing with custody and visitation issues.

Now, if he did that, it wouldn't look good in court for him, BUT that doesn't erase the pain of not seeing your child for a too-long period of time.

And I think you already know how to cure the immediate financial problem -- get cranking on earning some money and putting back some money to get your own place for you and your child.

Custody won't necessarily go to the wealthier parent, though. Child support can help equalize things to even the playing field.

Your home, however, has to be adequate for the care of a child.

On custody, it matters more who has been doing the bulk of the parenting up to this point, and who is the better parent.

As far as spousal maintenance, in Indiana, here's how it generally goes: The court is much more likely to order it if there is a great disparity in income between the parties -- or if one spouse is disabled during the marriage and unable to work. It's at the court's discretion whether to give maintenance or not.

Child support, on the other hand, is pretty much a given, except under very unusual circumstances.

Good luck to you!

Thank you for your reply. I live in Idaho-remember.

I have felt forced to move and now I have signed a 3 month lease. I would like to take my daughter with me,I will proceed in getting a court order for full custody-with child support before I move any personal items. At the end of my 3 months, I wish him to move out of our house that we own and I will move back in with my daughter and he will then move out.

I need to be advised on the legal issues of doing this. Thank you