Age Children Can Decide Not to Visit?

I have read on your site that at a certain point, the custodial parent responsibility is to make the child available but does not have to physically force the child to go with the other parent.

At what age can they really make those decisions and the custodial parent not be held in contempt? Don’t get me wrong, I’m trying to talk to my girls. They are in therapy, but we are dealing with a parent that has mental issues and doesn’t care anything about how they feel. They are just possessions for him.

It really depends on the maturity level of the children.

And who decides the maturity? My daughters continually tell me that they don’t want to live with their father, they get upset when he’s there after he said he was going out (we’re still under one roof for the time being) and I know that once the separation occurs, there will be times when the girls do NOT want to go. Who is to say that they are mature enough to make that decision?? He bullies them all the time like when we sit down in the evening to watch TV. One usually sits with me and the other sits with him (out of obligation). They ALWAYS argue about “whose turn it is to sit with Mommy” and he gets completely ANGRY about it and gets THEM upset about it as well. They just don’t want to be with him and I can JUST see him FORCING them into a car when it’s “his visitation” with them crying and I would be an absolute MESS.

So who decides their maturity level?

The judge determines if the child is off an age of maturity to voice their opinion, and how much weight to give that opinion.