My 18 month old daughter’s father lives in PA. He’s newly engaged to someone with a 6 year old son that he’s grown close to. He tells me he can’t travel here once a month to see his daughter because his fiance’s son has a lot of sports and he wouldn’t want to be away from them one weekend a month and they’d not be able to come with him due to the child’s schedule. (He’d presumably have my daughter in PA for most holidays and weeks in the summer too.) This is the main reason he and I can’t agree to a visitation schedule. He seems to not want to have to come here at all.
Is this something that a judge would even find relevant in determining our custody order? Also, he says he works full-time and my daughter will be cared for by his fiance. Is this at all relevant?
Yes, it is relevant in a custody trial to show that the father does not want to visit the child in NC but instead only in the father’s state of residence. And it is also relevant that the child would not have quality time with the father while at the father’s residence (although the judge could arrange the schedule so that it would include the father’s time off from work).
Generally judges want to hear as much information and evidence as they can when tasked with making a custody and visitation decision for minor children.
Anna Ayscue
Attorney with Rosen Law Firm Cary • Chapel Hill • Durham • Raleigh • Wake Forest
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