Legal Question in Family Law in South Carolina

Re: Please Help! Father would like custody of 8 year old in SC

You would need to file for custody in South Carolina, where the child lives, to ask for a change of custody (although there has never been a custody order, it would still be a change of custody after eight years with her mother). I suggest you consult with a family law attorney in the South Carolina county where the child lives to determine what your realistic chances of winning custody would be. Your history of a good relationship with your daughter should help, but it can be very difficult for a father in your circumstance to gain custody without a showing of a desperate situation in the child's present home. You will also want to consider the effect of your custody action on the current visitation agreement if you lose. You stand a chance of so alienating your daughter's mother that she becomes very difficult about those summers and birthdays. Weigh all of the considerations with a South Carolina attorney before you make a decision to file for custody, and try to avoid discussing your action with your daughter prematurely if it will get her hopes up. As for the age at which a child can testify or tell the judge of her preferences, that depends a lot on the individual judge.