12 year old child's rights

[displaceddadof3]

My position: "(e) If the child is twelve (12) years of age or older, the court shall consider the reasonable preference of the child. The court may hear the preference of a younger child. The preferences of older children should normally be given greater weight than those of younger children.”

Opposing attorney: "It is not my job to school you on the law, but I will be kind enough to tell you that Title 37 is the juvenile code and does not apply to post-divorce actions. Also, this is not a guardianship case; it is a custody case. I will direct your attention to 36-6-106, particularly subsection 10, which is the factor where you fail miserably. You cannot be a primary parent and have such hate and discord with the alternate parent. The courts and the law won't allow it. While the child's preference is a factor, it is only one of many, many factors the court considers when determining custody. And the child's preference is not determinative. Most kids don't know what's best for them"

What is the opinion here of granting kids the right to choose which parent they choose to live with?

[Harrison]

Hi disp. it depends on your state, but all states have to meet fed. guild lines to get fed. money, so there are a lot of parallels. Most states have on their legislature web page a link to state laws and the criteria for determining custody is usually in the domestic relations or some such labeled set of laws. child preference is usually giving little or no weight how ever, because a few years back some states tried to give kids a choice at a early teen age and what happened was more than predictable. It gave kids the ability to jump back and forth between parents, rendering the ability of the parents to well parent totally inactive, not to mention the court mess. But your state may be an exception, let me what state and I can help look. Harrison

[Jim]

Sept 1, 2009 22:20:50 GMT -5 displaceddadof3 said:

My position: "(e) If the child is twelve (12) years of age or older, the court shall consider the reasonable preference of the child. The court may hear the preference of a younger child. The preferences of older children should normally be given greater weight than those of younger children.”

Opposing attorney: "It is not my job to school you on the law, but I will be kind enough to tell you that Title 37 is the juvenile code and does not apply to post-divorce actions. Also, this is not a guardianship case; it is a custody case. I will direct your attention to 36-6-106, particularly subsection 10, which is the factor where you fail miserably. You cannot be a primary parent and have such hate and discord with the alternate parent. The courts and the law won't allow it. While the child's preference is a factor, it is only one of many, many factors the court considers when determining custody. And the child's preference is not determinative. Most kids don't know what's best for them"

What is the opinion here of granting kids the right to choose which parent they choose to live with?

As Harrison mentions, each state has its own statutes pertaining to this law or rule.

Here in Georgia it is 14yrs., yet the judge can ignore the childs request if there are outstanding circumstances in the case that make the childs request not in there best interest.

We all know they never follow the rule of law in most cases and rule in the mothers favor the majority of the time, its just the basic facts and status quo. The attorney says you hate the mother and it is not in the childs best interest for you to have primary custody? Well, thats ridiculous even though they have a statute refering to that. They award custody to mothers who hate the fathers and harrass and destroy them through attorneys and the courts everyday and all the time, talk about double standards!

What state are you in?