QUESTION
What is the legal age to choose which parent to live with?
Asked on Jun 10th, 2012 on Child Custody - Louisiana
More details to this question:
My children do not want to live with their father and have asked how old do they need to be to go to court and ask to live with their mother. We are all in New York State.
2 ANSWERS
Bruce Arthur Plesser
18 or go to court.
Answered on Jun 14th, 2013 at 12:24 AM
There is a lot of discussion over the legal age that a child must be to "choose." In reality this is almost a legal fiction. Most courts around the country use the "best interest of the child" standard in determining custody arrangements. Given this fact, regardless of what a child says, a court for other reasons may do something different. But, with that said, some states do have rules where a judge may give more credibility to a child after a certain age.
Answered on Jun 29th, 2012 at 11:00 PM