Legal Question in Family Law in California

He can modify custody and visitation any time there is a change of circumstances. A child now voicing a desire to spend more time with her dad should be sufficient, given her age and assuming her wish has a reasonable basis. As far as being married and your kids, there would be no financial benefit. He would hAve to do a stepparent adoption before he could claim a hardship for your children. For more information, visit http://www.ellifritzlaw.com

The childs desires may be given some weight here but if the other parent objects, the court will have to sort out if this modification of the parenting timeshare is justified. The first concern to consider is if it is reasonable for one parent to have every weekend with the child. if the custodial parent has a work schedule that precludes quality time with the child during the week, it may be appropriate to keep weekends on an alternating basis and work out another timeshare plan.

You have gotten reasonable answers on the time share issue. It can be modified by court order, but whether a particular modification will be ordered is completely tied up in the facts and details of the family and the two households' circumstances. I write primarily to disagree in part with Ms. Ellifritz. She jumps to the conclusion that the other two children are yours from a previous relationship. You did not say that. You said "we" have two other children. If Ms. Ellifritz is correct in her interpretation of your comment, that the two other children are not biologically his, then she is correct. Getting married will have no effect on support unless he also then adopts them. However, if the children are yours and his together, just without being married, then he should have asked for a modification of support when the first child was born and another modification when the second one was born. Having additional biological children automatically is a change of circumstances that would reduce the support payable to an ex spouse for a child from that marriage, unless the paying parent's income has greatly increased since the last order.