Child Custody & school district enrollment

[JCupcakes87]

Asking from California (LA County)

I share joint custody of my 5 year old with his father. We both live in different school districts and have to figure out who will get full custody so our son can go to school. I had him pre-enrolled in school in LA County, however, his dad has sprung the custody issue right before school starts, wanting to enroll him in Riverside County and my son was unable to attend his first day, resulting in losing his spot. Now we have to wait for a court date in October and his dad is railroading our sons education so he can "win" (he's been a nightmare to co-parent with). What are my legal options here? He needs to go to school!

 

[stealth2]

Do you have any court orders? Has Dad been legally declared Dad? Are/Were you married?

 

[Zigner]

Who has primary physical custody?

 

[JCupcakes87]

Do you have any court orders? Has Dad been legally declared Dad? Are/Were you married?

We weren't married but he has been declared dad

 

[JCupcakes87]

Do you have any court orders? Has Dad been legally declared Dad? Are/Were you married?

And yes we have court orders for our current joint schedule

 

[not2cleverRed]

Asking from California (LA County)

I share joint custody of my 5 year old with his father. We both live in different school districts and have to figure out who will get full custody so our son can go to school. I had him pre-enrolled in school in LA County, however, his dad has sprung the custody issue right before school starts, wanting to enroll him in Riverside County and my son was unable to attend his first day, resulting in losing his spot. Now we have to wait for a court date in October and his dad is railroading our sons education so he can "win" (he's been a nightmare to co-parent with). What are my legal options here? He needs to go to school!

Abandoning joint legal custody and fighting over sole legal custody is not necessary.

You can maintain joint legal custody, regardless of the parenting time.

This may sound like splitting hairs, but if you are going to do things legally, you have to be aware of the definitions of the words and phrases you use.

Your legal issue seems to not be joint vs sole legal custody, but rather what the child's residence for school registration purposes, i.e. physical custody.

What is the current parenting plan - how much time does the child spend with each parent? Are there any court orders?

An aside: Try not to be melodramatic. The kid is 5. Saying his education is being "railroaded" is an exaggeration. What are Dad's reasons for wanting the child registered for school in his district?

Note: Italics are later edits.

 

[JCupcakes87]

Who has primary physical custody?

We have joint. I have him Tuesday nights until either Friday or Saturday night. Dad has him the remaining days.

 

[not2cleverRed]

We have joint. I have him Tuesday nights until either Friday or Saturday night. Dad has him the remaining days.

That sounds like a 50/50 time share.

You can maintain a roughly 50/50 time share and have one parent be primary for school registration purposes. However, since you don't live really near each other, this can (and will) become inconvenient for both parties.

Why do you think that you as primary is in the best interest of the child?

 

[JCupcakes87]

Abandoning joint custody and fighting over sole custody is not necessary.

You can maintain joint custody, regardless of the parenting time.

This may sound like splitting hairs, but if you are going to do things legally, you have to be aware of the definitions of the wwords and phrases you use.

Your legal issue seems to not be joint vs sole custody, but rather what the child's residence for school registration purposes.

What is the current parenting plan - how much time does the child spend with each parent? Are there any court orders?

An aside: Try not to be melodramatic. The kid is 5. Saying his education is being "railroaded" is an exaggeration. What are Dad's reasons for wanting the child registered for school in his district?

It absolutely is necessary. Most, if not all school districts require a Monday-Friday school schedule. His father lives 3 hours away, so splitting the visitation and school schedule won't work in this case. One parent handles the Mon-Fri while the other gets weekends. I've had him enrolled in pre-school for 2 years and have assumed the school schedule responsibility. I enrolled him in Kindergarten months ago and just a month before school starts, his father, un-willing to discuss face to face a reasonable new custody and visitation agreement, wants to wait out a court date scheduled for October. See what I'm saying? The school I enrolled him in has now wait-listed him since he can't attend regularly until we see the judge in October.

Please curb the commentary on my attitude regarding the situation. It is indeed a serious one. Thanks.

 

[Just Blue]

It absolutely is necessary. Most, if not all school districts require a Monday-Friday school schedule. His father lives 3 hours away, so splitting the visitation and school schedule won't work in this case. One parent handles the Mon-Fri while the other gets weekends. I've had him enrolled in pre-school for 2 years and have assumed the school schedule responsibility. I enrolled him in Kindergarten months ago and just a month before school starts, his father, un-willing to discuss face to face a reasonable new custody and visitation agreement, wants to wait out a court date scheduled for October. See what I'm saying? The school I enrolled him in has now wait-listed him since he can't attend regularly until we see the judge in October.

Please curb the commentary on my attitude regarding the situation. It is indeed a serious one. Thanks.

Excuse me...but you need to "curb" your attitude toward the volunteers of this site. Bottom line is, you should have gone to court months ago to have primary custody for school resolved.

 

[not2cleverRed]

It absolutely is necessary. Most, if not all school districts require a Monday-Friday school schedule. His father lives 3 hours away, so splitting the visitation and school schedule won't work in this case. One parent handles the Mon-Fri while the other gets weekends. I've had him enrolled in pre-school for 2 years and have assumed the school schedule responsibility. I enrolled him in Kindergarten months ago and just a month before school starts, his father, un-willing to discuss face to face a reasonable new custody and visitation agreement, wants to wait out a court date scheduled for October. See what I'm saying? The school I enrolled him in has now wait-listed him since he can't attend regularly until we see the judge in October.

Please curb the commentary on my attitude regarding the situation. It is indeed a serious one. Thanks.

You stated in post # 7 that you basically have a 50/50 arrangement. I commented in post # 8 that this can be inconvenient for both parties - it's not fair to the child that you two live so far apart.

You registered the child for school KNOWING that your current parenting plan is unworkable during the school year, and DID NOT petition for a modification at that time! You should have petitioned for a modification, with the change of circumstance being that the child is now old enough to go to school. You did not. Probably because you knew Dad would raise a fuss. Well, now you have a fuss anyhow.

 

[Zigner]

In California, the words "joint" and "sole" have specific meanings with regard to custody, and those meanings are sometimes different than the same words in other states. In California, as defined by Family Code Section 3007, “Sole physical custody” means that a child shall reside with and be under the supervision of one parent, subject to the power of the court to order visitation., whereas, per Family Code section 3004, “Joint physical custody” means that each of the parents shall have significant periods of physical custody.  Joint physical custody shall be shared by the parents in such a way so as to assure a child of frequent and continuing contact with both parents, subject to Sections 3011 and 3020.

(see https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/family-code/fam-sect-3004.html and https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/family-code/fam-sect-3007.html)

You can use the "Prev" and "Next" buttons on that site to navigate from sections 3000 to 3007 to review the relevant information.


Having said that, rest easy: School attendance isn't mandatory in CA for a 5 year old.

 

[not2cleverRed]

In California, the words "joint" and "sole" have specific meanings with regard to custody, and those meanings are sometimes different than the same words in other states. In California, as defined by Family Code Section 3007, “Sole physical custody” means that a child shall reside with and be under the supervision of one parent, subject to the power of the court to order visitation., whereas, per Family Code section 3004, “Joint physical custody” means that each of the parents shall have significant periods of physical custody.  Joint physical custody shall be shared by the parents in such a way so as to assure a child of frequent and continuing contact with both parents, subject to Sections 3011 and 3020.

(see https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/family-code/fam-sect-3004.html and https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/family-code/fam-sect-3007.html)

You can use the "Prev" and "Next" buttons on that site to navigate from sections 3000 to 3007 to review the relevant information.


Having said that, rest easy: School attendance isn't mandatory in CA for a 5 year old.

Thank you for the clarification.

There is, however, a difference between legal custody and physical custody, isn't there? One can have joint legal custody, even if they do not have joint physical custody, correct? (I was thinking of legal vs physical custody in my intial post in this thread, and somehow omitted legal. I will edit that, to reflect this.)

 

[Zigner]

Thank you for the clarification.

There is, however, a difference between legal custody and physical custody, isn't there? One can have joint legal custody, even if they do not have joint physical custody, correct? (I was thinking of legal vs physical custody in my intial post in this thread, and somehow omitted legal. I will edit that, to reflect this.)

Yes, legal and physical custody are two different things.

 

[stealth2]

It absolutely is necessary. Most, if not all school districts require a Monday-Friday school schedule. His father lives 3 hours away, so splitting the visitation and school schedule won't work in this case. One parent handles the Mon-Fri while the other gets weekends. I've had him enrolled in pre-school for 2 years and have assumed the school schedule responsibility. I enrolled him in Kindergarten months ago and just a month before school starts, his father, un-willing to discuss face to face a reasonable new custody and visitation agreement, wants to wait out a court date scheduled for October. See what I'm saying? The school I enrolled him in has now wait-listed him since he can't attend regularly until we see the judge in October.

Please curb the commentary on my attitude regarding the situation. It is indeed a serious one. Thanks.

I'm always intrigued why parents don't handle these legalities in a timely manner. You're the one who messed up, chica, not the volunteers here.