Child Custody

[sproule28]

I was divorced 2 years ago from my husband. It took all sorts of leagal manuvering to get the divorce heard simply because he was trying to "punish" me. We have a 16 year old daughter that he attempted to get custody of two years ago, but right after significantly wrangling I was given custody. He has had small to nothing to do with her because the divorce and had little to do with her for the six months prior to the divorce. When he did he was verbally and in two situations physically abusive. Our daughter has been diagnosed with bi-polar disease and I have had a lot of difficulty with her considering that the divorce and she has been hospitalized three times for the duration of this period. She is performing much far better but now my ex has filed for custody. In two.five years he has observed her 6-9 times and calls her about 1 a month. If he gets her (he's a shift worker) she will be sent to his parents in Stephenville to reside. His father is abusive and the parents are in extremely undesirable overall health. I have her psyciatrist and psycologist on my side and she doesn't want to go with him. He filed these papers in conjuction to a OAG case simply because he hasn't paid any out of pocket healthcare expenditures in 2.5 years and owes me a small a lot more than $6000. What are his possibilities of pulling this off. I have a quite excellent lawyer (he utilized to be a senator) but I am nonetheless scared of my ex because he is so controlling and abusive.

[Chin-Mae]

There doesn't seem any good reason that a court would reverse custody.

[Pierce]

In my opinion that there's a procedure within your state that does permit a young child within the age of 12 to file an affidavit with this issue.  At 16, she undoubtedly is old enough. Whilst not absolutely binding upon the judge, at 16, your child's desires stand a great possibility of being revered by the court. Discuss it together with your attorney.