Indiana Custody

[Hoons]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana

In Indiana, the following are true:

• The courts will consider what both of the parents want to happen with the child. If the parents are in agreement, the Indiana child custody laws will grant the wishes of both of the parents.

• If the child is 14 years old then the child can decide where he or she wants to live.

My question: If these conflict, which would be taken into effect?

We have a 15 year old male who wants to live with one parent, but the ex and I both want to maintain split custody as we have been doing. This is a garden-variety situation with no other outside factors. The two residences are about 10 minutes apart although the one he wants to live at is just outside of his school district (but he would continue going to that school).

Thanks for any info.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana

In Indiana, the following are true:

• The courts will consider what both of the parents want to happen with the child. If the parents are in agreement, the Indiana child custody laws will grant the wishes of both of the parents.

• If the child is 14 years old then the child can decide where he or she wants to live.

My question: If these conflict, which would be taken into effect?

We have a 15 year old male who wants to live with one parent, but the ex and I both want to maintain split custody as we have been doing. This is a garden-variety situation with no other outside factors. The two residences are about 10 minutes apart although the one he wants to live at is just outside of his school district (but he would continue going to that school).

Thanks for any info.

Your second bullet point is NOT true for Indiana. Judges will typically take the child's wishes into consideration at 14, but the judge would still make the decision based on the overall best interests of the child. If both parents are in agreement that custody would still be split, the child's wishes would not have any weight at all.

What's more, the existing court orders (or the parents wishes) rule, and therefore unless one of the parent actually took it to court for a modification, custody would not be changed...period.

So tell sonny boy that he doesn't get to choose if both parents are truly united in this.

However, I will warn you, that if the other parent isn't as united as you think, and would actually file for a modification, by about age 16 Indiana judges typically will go with the wishes of the child, unless there are fitness issues with the home the child wants to live in.