Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia
father and mother are divorced and live in different states. father paid court ordered child support until he became disabled. spouse now gets disability check for child. Mother has not let father see child since she was 8 and is now 15. father found out mother is dead but cannot find child. what are his legal rights even if mother left someone else in will as guardian?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Father could petition for sole custody of child once he
has managed to locate her.
Unless the father has been declared an unfit parent (and even if he was, if he can now rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the court), at the time of the mother's death he was the presumptively correct person to have custody of the daughter, and can petition to the court for change in custody from the present custodians. He will being fighting an uphill battle, since the child has been in the custody of others, perhaps relatives of the child, and the child herself may espress a desire that the custody not be changed -- the court would give consideraton to what she wants.
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