Legal Question in Family Law in Florida
16 year old child custody
My ex-wife holds custody of my 16 year old son, but it is a joint custody. He lives with her, but I get to see him every Tuesday night and every other weekend, Friday night through Sunday night. Recently my son got into a rather petty argument with his mother (she accidentally broke a rather expensive piece of computer equipment when she decided to move it), and she resorted to threats of violence (hitting him with his computer) and destruction of property (threatening to smash his computer and video game consoles) to calm him. She never actually hit him or destroyed anything, but it was straight threatened. The consoles and computer were both bought by me in full as gifts to my son.
My son is now expressing that he would like to move in with me, and has before, since this is not the first time she has threatened these things before. I once heard before that since he is 16, he is able to choose where he wants to live if he has a good enough reason. Is this true? If so, are violent threats enough of a reason? She has never acted on these threats, but she has still made them.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: 16 year old child custody
The desire of a child is not sufficient reason to change custody, and some judges don't even care where 16-year-olds want to live. Coupled with the threats of violence, you may have a case, but it would be a tough one.
You should speak to a local lawyer to see how your local judges feel about the opinions of 16-year-olds. In my area of practice (Tampa Bay), your case probably wouldn't go very far.
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