Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Always and never. By this I mean, theoretically, children never get to choose because the law holds that we do not put children in this position to disappoint one parent. That said, a child's opinion is always taken into consideration by evaluators or guardian ad litems. Depending on the child's age and maturity and the reasoning behind their decisions, it is common for the evaluators or guardian ad litems to make recommendations to the parents and court commensurate with the child's wishes.

For example, if a 15 year old says they want to live with Dad because he lives in a school district with an academic or sports program that this child hopes to ride to a college scholarship while mom's district has nothing on par, then that can be a reasonable basis to change schools, all other things being equal.

On the other hand, if the same 15 year old says they want to live with Dad because he's really cool about coming home past midnight on a school night, then no, that child's opinion is not going to prevail. Actually, you could say the child's opinion will serve to make the recommendation that Dad not be the residential parent, assuming what the child says is true.

These are just two examples. There are no hard and fast rules. Each situation is different and because of the fluidity of these types of things, each case needs to be assessed individually. I am happy to provide a consultation by phone or in person. All you need to do is contact my office to set up an appointment.

In addition to the first answer, there is always the factor of how miserable the child who wants to change parents can make the custodial parent. The older the child gets, the more effective his or her efforts to that end will be.