Change of custody

[Texaslady99]

What is the name of your state?tx

my husband and I are currently litigating custody of his 14 year old daughter. The situation is simply that the child has not lived with her father since she was three and has been talking for the last several years that she wanted to live with her dad. She has been talking to her mom trying to get her mom to understand and so has my husband. Mom is not willing to let the child go under any circumstances. Mom tells the girl that if she moves in with us that her siblings(kids from moms new marriage) will miss her and not understand and that dad and I will not let her see them at all. Which is a crock because we have kids here from our marriage and they have good realationships with their sister and understand the situation as best they can.

We feel she doesn't want to let her go because of the child support. She gets almost 1500.00 a month for my stepdaughter. Hefty chunk of change for her to lose. This is not a spur of the moment decision. We have waited a long time to make sure that my step daughter was serious and this was not a whim. We are not contending that mom is bad or abusive or anything else, this is simply a matter of the young lady wants the opportunity to live with her father and I.

What are our chances?

Thanks!

 

[djohnson]

Honestly, your chances are slim. First you have to show a change in circumstances in order to even be heard. You don't have a change. The childs wishes do not make a change. Even if you get to court, the judge may listen to childs wishes, but it is hard for a child of any age to get up and say they prefer one parent over the over. Even if she does this and hurts one parent (put the shoe on the other foot), it doesn't mean he will win. It is only taken into consideration. If she has been living with mom all these years and mom is doing a good job, then chances are the judge isn't going to change that.