Legal Question in Family Law in California
Ex is leaving the country and wants to leave my daughter with his girlfriend.
Ex and I have joint legal custody, he has physical, and I gave up physical due to finances of our daughter who is now 14 yrs. old. I spend two days a week with her, and no money changes hands. Dad is going to Iraq in two weeks for a job position for one year. He is unwilling to allow me to take custody of our daughter in his absence. He would not be supporting her financially during this time. He would rather leave her with his new Fianc� than loose his tax deduction by me having her. My question is: I can�t afford to spend the money on an attorney to rectify this, so can you tell me can he legally leave the country without giving up physical custody to me, and would his leaving our daughter with his fianc� be abandonment? He claims I have to have a separate bedroom for our daughter; I have a master sweet that we can share in a large upscale home; I do rent out three bedrooms to tenants and have done so for the last six years to maintain this residence. My daughter under his custody of late has had three truancy letters, missed half a semester, and is failing all of her classes due to his neglect, and he has also failed to appear at two preset meetings with the school counselor! Any other resources you have would be great.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Ex is leaving the country and wants to leave my daughter with his girlfriend.
Your daughter is 14 years old and should be able to decide which parent she wants to live with but if father is leaving the country you are the only choice. A non-relative is only going to be given custody/guardianship if there is no parent. The custodial parent may be homeless so the bedroom should not be an issue. If Father will not sign a stipulation for you to have temporary physical custody you will have to file a motion. You shouod be able to handle this without an attorney. The court has a Family Law Facilitator to help you as well as the clerk who can supply you with the blank forms. You should also request that child support be modified. If you want to allow Father to continue to take the deduction on his taxes you may. You just enter that on the computer program and it will adjust the support automatically. It is the smart thing to do if he earns a lot more than you do. When he returns your daughter may decide to return to Father's custody.
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