Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania
unrelated couple seeks custody
We are a husband and wife who have kept our son in law's nephew every weekend since he was 5 months old. He is now 8. That is how we came to know him. There have been sometimes we have kept him for entire weeks. He has gone on vacations with us and spent all holidays and birthdays with us. He is like our own child. We have one grown daughter who is married and a chemistry teacher. We are 53 and 55 years old. The mother of the boy is unmarried and has had to finish high school and worked and gone to nursing school. She recently moved to N.C. with her boyfriend. The father has not been involved in the boys life until the past few years.(off and on) He just won custody because the court said taking him to N.C., with his mother would be taking him away from his '' support.''( i.e . his half brother and half sister, paternal grandparents etc.) The child is not close to any of these people because they have not been in his life until recently. The boy is devastated and wants to live with us. All the relatives on his mothers side support us. ( Including the mother). The stepmother works 10 and 12 hours a day and so she has her family help her keep the kids. ( more strangers). What are the chances of our getting custody?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: unrelated couple seeks custody
You asked about getting full or partial custody of a child that is unrelated to you.
It is well established that natural parents have an almost unalienable claim to raise their own child. Situations such as you describe come up relatively often and can be unfortunate or can be made to work out. Unrelated persons do not have a high rate of success in pursuing a claim for full or exclusive custody.
There are a few options you should consider. The first would be to see if the father and stepmother would be amenable to allowing you to have custody. Or seeking partial custody based on the mother's claim.
The goal of you and the court should be to have the most people in this child's life to support him rather than trying to take or keep him away from anyone. It is important to get the arrangement settled in a court so that this cannot be changed at one person's whim.
You need to find a local attorney that practices family law and who is willing to find a win-win solution.
Regards,
Roger Traversa
email: [email protected]
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