My husband’s ex wife has primary custody of his two daughter (11, and 8). The oldest girl wants to move in with my husband. She moved in with us two years ago. Her mother filed and Ex Parte order and the judge gave her custody. I think a lot of the reason why he did that was at the time my husband and i weren’t married and my stepdaughter told the judge she wanted to move in with us because she wanted to get away from her younger sister.
Two years have passed but she still wants to move in. I know that we will have to go to court because the closer it gets to my stepdaughters birthday her mom tells her that “you’ll never live with your dad” and “the court won’t let you live with him”. The only thing that my husband’s ex can bring against him is the fact that with his job we have to move every two years or so. I’ve talked to my stepdaughter and told her that if she wants to stay with her dad that she should talk to her mom. But she can’t cause everytime she tries her mom says one of the above meantioned phrases and she cries and makes my stepdaughter feel bad for wanting to live with her dad.
My other stepdaughter who is 8, doesn’t want to leave her mother.
She will be 12 in August. Does my husband have a shot at getting primary custody of his oldest daughter? Will the fact that there are 2 children and one wants to live with the one parent and the other wants to stay where she is have any sway over the judge?
In order to change the current custodial arrangement your husband would need to show that there has been some substantial change in circumstances which affects the child’s best interest. Unfortunately the child’s wishes alone are not enough to meet that burden.