what age can a child choose to live with a parent

22 Jul Can a Child Choose Which Parent to Live With in Florida?

Posted at 17:53h in Miami Family Police

During a divorce, one of the most important decisions to make is choosing which parent the child will live or spend the majority of his or her fourth dimension with. In many cases, both parents want their child or children to live with them, and both will fight to prove to a judge why they deserve this right.

In the land of Florida, although immature children usually do not get a say in the court proceedings, older children can let a judge know if they have a preference for living with one parent or another. This information will and then be used to make up one's mind who will accept custody of a child and then that in the finish, the all-time decision possible tin can be made. To larn more most whether children tin can decide which parent to alive with – and how this is done – read on.

How does child custody work in Florida?

Florida, dissimilar most other states, does not use the term "child custody" – or, in other words, does not take chief and secondary parenting roles for divorced (or unmarried) parents. Instead, the residential status of the child is set forth in a parental responsibility program, which can take one of several forms: the parents can take equal time-sharing (aka "concrete custody"), or 1 parent can accept the majority of parental fourth dimension-sharing over another. In both of these cases, the child will be able to live with both parents.  The but question is when, and for how long, the kid will live with each parent separately.

At that place are a variety of factors that go into making a "custody" conclusion:

* Parents' willingness to compromise and be flexible with the fourth dimension-sharing schedule
* Parents' willingness to create a good relationship with the child and consider the child's needs a priority
* Parents' willingness to work together
* Division of parental responsibilities
* Parents' mental and physical health
* Location of each parent's home, depending on what is more convenient for the kid
* How long the child has lived with each parent before
* Parents' grapheme and moral fitness
* Parents' cognition of and willingness to care for the child
* Parents' ability to provide a stable, salubrious atmosphere that supports a successful future
* Parents' history or evidence of violence, drug usage, neglect, or alcoholism
– Florida Statute 61.thirteen

At what historic period tin can a kid choose which parent they should alive with?

A child cannot legally "decide" which parent to live with; every bit seen to a higher place, there are numerous other factors to consider, and in many cases, the family unit law courts will make a decision based on what they believe to be in the best interest of the child. All the same, a estimate can use a child's desire for spending the majority of overnights per yr with one parent or another as a factor in making the decision.

Practise teens get a say in their parents' custody agreements? According to Florida Statute 61.13, the family courts can have a child'south preferences into account "if the court deems the kid to exist of sufficient intelligence, understanding, and feel to limited a preference." Dissimilar many other land laws, this statute does not state an exact age for each kid to exist able to decide which parent to live with; instead, the child has to meet the criteria of intelligence, agreement, and feel. But what exactly does this mean?

Intelligence implies that the child is fully informed most the costs and benefits of living with each parent, and is making a decision based on valid reasoning, and non simply rebelling against one parent or another. Furthermore, the courts have to be certain that there is no coercion going on on the part of either parent; the child has to be making the decision for him or herself. Agreement requires that the kid be fully aware of the weight, impact, and consequences of the decision he or she is making. And having experience indicates that the child has to have spent enough time with both parents for the decision to comport weight and pregnant.

There isn't some "magical historic period" at which the family courts allow the children to voice their preference as to who they would like to live with. Every bit a full general rule, children 12 years of age and older are seen as eligible to make a conclusion on which parent they want to live with, simply because they most often meet the criteria described above. However, this age can fluctuate; some cases accept decided not to take into business relationship the stance of a ten-year-old, while others have decided that an eleven-twelvemonth-old is intelligent, understanding, and experienced enough to have a preference.

If multiple children are involved, a judge will make a decision for each child separately; one child will not be forced to live with a certain parent merely because his or her sibling meets the criteria above and is able to express a preference. Each kid will be evaluated based on his or her needs and placed with a parent that volition better aid the child'due south interest. Information technology is too of import to remember that children cannot exist forced to testify virtually their custodial preferences; in many cases, the child may not have a preference, and thus, the courts will non crave any testimony regarding the custodial arrangement from him or her.

baconwisithir1961.blogspot.com

Source: https://brickelllegal.com/age-child-choose-parent-florida/