Child's right to choose.

[collinsrus]

All concerned living in Florida.
My husband has two biological sons (not mine) from a previous relationship (not marriage). When the mother filed for child support, it was awarded and we have been making the support payments since then. In some of the legal paperwork involved, the mother was referred to as the custodial parent however in the Final Judgement of Paternity and Order of Paternity it stated "The Court does not hereby reach the issues of custody or visitation and any such issues must be determined persuant to Chapter 61 of the Florida Statutes by a Court of competent jursdiction upon notice and hearing." What exactly does this mean? We have not questioned the custody issue until now but the mother is very financially irresponsible. Money is not used wisely or for children's support (ie. clothing etc.) Now one of his sons wants to come and live with us. He is 14 years of age. Probably the major factor in this choice is his wanting a better life. Is this something we can handle alone? Must we obtain services of a lawyer or are there some forms we could fill out and submit ourselves? The mother is not willing to turn over custody to us on paper. She is willing to let him come live with us but says she will sign no papers. She obviously does not wish to give up support. What can we do? I appreciate any information offered on this situation. His son is calling daily to find out when he can come and we don't know what to tell him.

 

[*jessi~is~me*]

about the statutes: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0061/titl0061.htm

this is a site that breaks down the different parts of that statute. I dont know how much help it will be but it might help you understand. if it doesnt help you SHOULD be able to call any lawyers office and ask them to explain it to you.
it sounds to me like the mother wants all the monewy that should be goin to the kids all for herself. if there is any way that you can prove how irresponsible with her money then you should be able to take that to court. get pictures of the kids if they have bad clothes and whatever you can find to show they arent getting what they need. you might want to check with the courts and see what age the judge will listen to a childs testemony. it is age 12 in TN so if it is there to all you would have to do is get the child in court with you and let him tell the judge how unhappy he is. they do take in consideration of what kind of unhappy (i.e. if they say i dont want to live with mom cause she wont let us stay up late and dad does, etc.) the child is. if that makes any sense. i hope i might have helped a little bit.