Legal Question in Family Law in Kentucky
Unsupervised visition
My husband had joint custody of his 2 children with his ex having primary custodian. Almost 3 yrs ago social services took the children from her charging her with neglect & endangering the welfare of a minor (this is not the first time). She does have mental illness & she is medically treated, then & now.
Social services placed the children with us during this time.
We filled for primary custodian of the children. This took the case to family court and out of criminal court. Nothing was ever done with the neglect or endangering issues. We were granted joint custody primary custodian with her getting supervised visitation. Her mother does the supervision with us setting amounts.
The grandmother has contacted us stating her daughter has straighten up her life & wants unsupervised visits. The children have told us that Mom says they are old enough to talk to the judge and tell him they want to live with her (of course they do, no rules there). I know she would have to take it to court. My question is the neglect & endangering issue was never dealt with, what happens to that? Due to these issues would the children be able to decide? We do not deprive her of seeing them, we just want them to be safe.
Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Unsupervised visition
A finding should have been entered regarding the neglect and abuse action since that and the custody change are two separate legal processes. Your husband should go check the record in that matter and find out how it was disposed of.
Children, even teenagers, do not get to decide where they live. However, as teens get older, some judges do weigh their preference more in deciding.
The big question is whether there has been a substantial change in circumstances since custody changed. If not, it is even out of the judge's hands (according to the law) to change custody.
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