Girls want to live with their mother...

[unforgiven1977]

Pennsylvania/Ohio
A freind of mine (yes meaning not me) has two teenage daughters ages 16 and 18 who now live with their father in Pennsylvania. My freind, the mother, lives in Ohio.
Father has had primary custody for the last 10 years and lived in Penn for that time.
Now the girls are saying that they would like to come live with their mother citing mental abuse as the main reason. I know the 18 year old is legally an adult (I think) but she is still a senior in high school so of course still lives at home.
Naturally the father refuses to entertain the idea as it was brought up to him by the daughters. He says it will never happen. He's also no longer answering phone calls from my freind and won't let her girls call her.
She's really stressed here and hasn't gotten any help from our home or childrens services. They say that without physical abuse and even though the girls say they want to live with their mother there's not a whole lot she can do about it. I don't know as I entirely believe that though I do know the laws don't pay as much attention to minors saying who they want to live with anymore.
Is there any steps she might take towards getting the ball rolling on this? Is there in fact anything she CAN do? I told her if she needs a lawyer she should look for one who can work in either state.
Any advice would be much appreciated and if you need me to elaborate on anything please ask.

 

[ErinGoBragh]

Pennsylvania/Ohio
A freind of mine (yes meaning not me) has two teenage daughters ages 16 and 18 who now live with their father in Pennsylvania. My freind, the mother, lives in Ohio.
Father has had primary custody for the last 10 years and lived in Penn for that time.
Now the girls are saying that they would like to come live with their mother citing mental abuse as the main reason. I know the 18 year old is legally an adult (I think) but she is still a senior in high school so of course still lives at home.
Naturally the father refuses to entertain the idea as it was brought up to him by the daughters. He says it will never happen. He's also no longer answering phone calls from my freind and won't let her girls call her.
She's really stressed here and hasn't gotten any help from our home or childrens services. They say that without physical abuse and even though the girls say they want to live with their mother there's not a whole lot she can do about it. I don't know as I entirely believe that though I do know the laws don't pay as much attention to minors saying who they want to live with anymore.
Is there any steps she might take towards getting the ball rolling on this? Is there in fact anything she CAN do? I told her if she needs a lawyer she should look for one who can work in either state.
Any advice would be much appreciated and if you need me to elaborate on anything please ask.

The 18 year old may do what she pleases. She is legally an adult and can move in with mom if she so pleases. As far as the 16 year old.. is there a visitation order in place? If so, what does the visitation order say about phone contact?

 

[ErinGoBragh]

Oh, and if 18 year old goes to live with mom, she may want to seek modification of a support order if there's one in place.

 

[unforgiven1977]

Thanks for the response ErynSMA.
The current visitation orders allow her only one weekend a month. But she hasn't always had the money to make the drive to go meet her ex and pick them up so it's much less frequent than what the orders say.
The last time she saw them was last weekend and it had been almost a year before that.
She's very concerned because her ex mother-in-law knows all the local judges and lawyers in Penn. And while yes justice is supposed to be blind that fact had no small part in why the girls were taken from her in the first place.
So if she did go for custody of the younger daughter would the court preceedings take place there or in ohio? I would think Penn just because that's where the girls live.
If she can't find a local lawyer that can also work in Penn should she just conatct one over there?
Thanks again.

 

[ErinGoBragh]

Some of your questions are beyond the scope of my knowledge, so sit tight and wait for someone who knows more to come along.

I do believe that her not exercising visitation on a regular basis is going to make it much harder for her to get custody.

 

[TheGeekess]

Thanks for the response ErynSMA.
The current visitation orders allow her only one weekend a month. But she hasn't always had the money to make the drive to go meet her ex and pick them up so it's much less frequent than what the orders say.
The last time she saw them was last weekend and it had been almost a year before that.
She's very concerned because her ex mother-in-law knows all the local judges and lawyers in Penn. And while yes justice is supposed to be blind that fact had no small part in why the girls were taken from her in the first place.
So if she did go for custody of the younger daughter would the court preceedings take place there or in ohio? I would think Penn just because that's where the girls live.
If she can't find a local lawyer that can also work in Penn should she just conatct one over there?
Thanks again.

Without a significant change in circumstances, the 16 year old will not be moving to Mom's. While a judge may take into consideration the wishes of a minor, just because the minor wants to move won't cut it in court.

And Mom not exercising her visitation isn't going to help matters, as you've been told earlier.

 

[LdiJ]

Thanks for the response ErynSMA.
The current visitation orders allow her only one weekend a month. But she hasn't always had the money to make the drive to go meet her ex and pick them up so it's much less frequent than what the orders say.
The last time she saw them was last weekend and it had been almost a year before that.
She's very concerned because her ex mother-in-law knows all the local judges and lawyers in Penn. And while yes justice is supposed to be blind that fact had no small part in why the girls were taken from her in the first place.
So if she did go for custody of the younger daughter would the court preceedings take place there or in ohio? I would think Penn just because that's where the girls live.
If she can't find a local lawyer that can also work in Penn should she just conatct one over there?
Thanks again.

PA has jurisdiction so court would take place there and she would need an attorney in PA to handle the case, NOT an attorney in OH.

 

[unforgiven1977]

Is there any chance that maybe proving psychological abuse may help her case? I don't know all of what has happened there but most of it falls along the lines of the youngest one being called a (I hope it's not against forum rules) "slut" and "whore" amongst alot of other kind words. I'm not sure if that qualifies. Also her boyfreind has been threatened with physical harm which he actually has on his text messaging. The rest is minor stuff like not allowing her to sit or eat with the family for meals and being ostricized from the other members of the house entirely. It's all nothing major but it's clearly having an effect on the daughter if she's wanting to go live with her mother after 10 years with dad.
I know it's not much to go on but is there any chance at all for an argument in court here?

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

Doesn't sound like the "I'm eating garbage", "sleeping on the concrete driveway", etc., etc.

Suggest that mom look to modifying parenting time that will ensure phone contact, "virtual parenting time," and possible counseling for the 16 yo. And yes, the 18 yo COULD move out.