Our absolute divorce was granted August 24, 2010 but we do not have a custody agreement or court order in place. The children have been living with me as the custodial parent since we separated on March 16, 2009. He gets them every other weekend from Fri night until I pick them up from school on Monday.
My daughter (10 years old) desparately wants to stop visiting her father because he is verbally abusive. She is seeing a counselor for this now and the counselor is attempting to work with her father on parenting. At what age would she be able to decide for herself that she no longer see him? At what age would a judge take her perspective into consideration if I were to seek full custody?
Children cannot decide with whom they will live until they are 18.
I think she was asking if the child has to be forced to go visit her father (if that’s what the agreement says). My daughter is also 10 and hates every other weekend and every Thursday night because she just doesn’t want to go with her father. She constantly texts me telling me that she’s sick or just wants to come home. Can a child be FORCED to visit with the non-custodial parent? And at what age can they express their preference NOT to go and allow the parent to adhere to their wishes?
They can express their desires at any point, but as the primary custodian, you still must make the child available for all scheduled visitations.
The judge can take a child’s view point into account if the judge determines the child is mature enough to express such an opinion and that such an opinion would be valuable to his or her determination of custody. If no order or agreement is in place you do not have to follow any type of schedule.