Legal Question in Family Law in Arizona

Joint custody question/

Hello friends! I am currently dating someone whom's parents are currently divorced and have joint custody of him. The mother still hasn't accepted the fact that he isn't straight, after years of coming out. We're not allowed to hold hands, sit too close, etc.. inside of her house. Her dad on the other hand is the complete opposite. He embraces the fact. Without telling her, he lets us sleep over as long as we don't tell her. We are both 17 years old, only 10 months away from turning 18. She honestly won't even let us be alone in a room together, and flips out when she does.

Both of my parents, and his dad are completely fine with the idea of him staying at my house. The only problem is, since they have joint custody, does the mom have to give her permission? Is there any way that he can stay the night without her permission, without having to go through the whole lawyer crap... etc.

The only reason why his dad doesen't say go do it is because he doesn't want to be attacked by lawyers, but he has said that personally, he's more than okay with it.

Thanks :)


Asked on 2/24/08, 5:56 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Lisa Sirard Law Office of Lisa Sirard

Re: Joint custody question/

Are you talking about staying the night at dad's house or at mom's house? Normally in joint custody cases, the decree will give both parents "major decision making" i.e, location of school, religion etc. However, normally the parent who has the child for visitation makes the decisions on how the child behaves for that visit. If you are referring to overnight stays at mom's house, then I think you are out of luck. However, dad should have that choice when child is at dad's house. If mom wants to fight that issue, then she would have to go to court to file a motion to modify child visitation. Hope this helps!

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Answered on 2/25/08, 6:46 pm


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