Legal Question in Family Law in North Carolina

My friend is 15 years old, lives in NC, and has divorced parents. Her mother has bipolar disorder and suffers from alcoholism, to the point where my friend does not feel safe staying with her mother. However, despite repeated attempts, she has been unable to get the custody arrangement changed so that she can stay only with her father. Evidence, including a recording, of her mother's tendency to excessively drink exists, and she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder by a licensed physician. The same judge has presided over these custody disputes whenever they arose for my friend in the past, and has almost always ruled in favor of the mother. My friend has not tried appealing the case to a higher court. What can my friend do?


Asked on 2/08/17, 4:08 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

You have no idea how often we hear this scenario - "mom or dad is a crazy, drug / alcoholic fueled abuser - I wanna live with the other parent who is good and pure and awesome". More often than not it turns out to be complete bs Bottom line, if mom was actually as bad as you portray, law enforcement, DSS and the Court would all or individually have likely intervened long ago - if they haven't, she doesn't have much of a case. If a Judge has taken a look a this situation and left your friend with mom, then one or both of two things is likely the case: 1) mom ain't that bad and / or dad ain't that good. Your friends best bet is likely to just wait out the few more years and then do what ever she wants Her only other option would be to look into emancipation which is a virtually impossible standard to meet. Best of luck!

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Answered on 2/09/17, 4:52 am


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