Legal Question in Family Law in California
I currently have temporary full custody of our 14yr old daughter, bio-father has not been in her life for 10+ years and now is seeking visitation. We were never married and split when I was 5mo. pregnant. He is also seeking to have his name put on birth cert. The current order (written 7/10) is that he is to have 3rd party supervised visitation, which as of now has not occurred. We revisited this order through mediation in November of 2010. As of that meeting, he had not made any attempt to contact our daughter. He claims financial hardship, but was encouraged to at least call to establish some kind of dialog with our daughter. Order was changed to no 3rd party supervised visitation, but since daughter is in counseling, he could be brought in to sessions ONLY when daughter was ready. This reconfiguration will not be made an order until 1/14/2011. Calls did start about once every 8-10 days. Daughter wants nothing to do with bio-father and has told him such on phone calls that he has made to her. What rights does she have? Does she have to continue the charade with the phone calls? She doesn't even want to go to counseling anymore, just so she won't be made to see him (as she says it).
It is also a possibility that my husband will be relocating out of state in 6-8 months, what legal recourse do I have? And, when move is complete can I put in for a change of venue?
1 Answer from Attorneys
This answer must not be treated as a substitute for the legal advice you should seek in an office consultation with an attorney skilled in the area of California Family Law.
Your daughters placement in therapy to deal with her feelings and her father's efforts to reunify with her is an important means to address concerns about your daughter's understandable reluctance to have any relationship with a biological father absent for most of her life. Your daughter should be honest with the therapist about her desire to further limit bio dad's contact with her. If the therapist feels these reunification efforts by father are causing more harm than good then a further roll back of the contact may be required for your daughter's best interests.
If there is a distinct chance you and your family may move to another state, now is the time to address that issue so you properly plan ahead and take the requisite steps to seek court orders if needed for this move. If the move is allowed and you stay in the new state for a significant period of time, then the court in your new state would allow for a registration of your court orders for modification and enforcement.
If you do not already have an attorney, I urge you to at least consult with one to better address your unique fact pattern and the applicable law to best protect you and your daughter's legal rights.
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