Legal Question in Family Law in Maine
custody
My daughter is almost 15. We live in Maine. She has decided that she wants to live with her father. I have sole custody. He has supervised visitation but has never seen her in 14 years. She recently reunited with him, his wife and 2 siblings.She threatened to run away etc if I did not let her. So she has gone to live there, is in school there, etc. Do I have to sign over custody (which Id rather not do) or can I leave it as it is?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: custody
There is no obligation on your part to do anything. Quite frankly, your ex bears the risk by failing to modify the underlying judgment. For example, the child support obligation does not terminate merely because the child has moved in with him. It actually continues until he moves to modify it.
With teenagers, residency cases can be difficult. A 15 year old child does not yet know what is in her best interests. However, by the same token, she might vote with her feet and follow through on her threat to run away if you do not let her go.
If she has not seen her father in 14 years, and given her age, I would not be surprised at all if the "honeymoon" period ends, and she returns to reside with you after discovering that her father is not the wonderful person she has built him up in her mind to be.
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