Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts

Re: 16 year old wants to live with father now

CPS should be pressured to investigate, and should remove your daughter from the home. You need to hire an attorney to represent your interests in Texas. The change of custody should be handled by you as the possessory parent. Your daughter would then be asked to sign a document expressing her desire to live with you. A temporary hearing can be scheduled within 10 days. TCL

Re: 16 year old wants to live with father now

As a practical matter, if your daughter goes to live with you when she is 17, no one is going to do anything about it, except possibly her mother. She can try to hold you in contempt if you encourage her to leave in violation of a court order giving her custody. Unlikely she will get very far, but you might want to appear at any hearing with your daughter here in MA.

You can petition for a modification now, asking for custody, which would have to be in MA. The other attorney's response is incorrect as it assumes you are the custodial parent. Under federal law, the custody change will have to be pursued where it began, in MA.

If you have complained to DSS and they take the case, you may have opened the proverbial can of worms. They might remove your daughter from mother's home, but she might wind up in a foster home, not yours.

Without knowing more about the daughter's situation and why she wound up in a slapping battle with her mother, I can't really evaluate what will happen in any hearing. It would also help if I knew what court the original custody order was entered in.

Even at 16, if she went to live with you as her father, I doubt a court would order her to return to her mother, unless you have your own parental fitness issues. That does not mean your ex could not try to hold you in contempt as discussed above.