If you are 16 and your dad has full custody and you want to live with your mom can you?

Answer 1

Is it a want or a need?? There may be extenuating circumstances and you need to talk to your dad about it. However, you should note that you have just a couple of years until you are out of high school and the stability of staying where you are may be beneficial.

It appears that you are in a situation where your father will not permit you to live with your mother for whatever reason he has, but that you wish to live with your mother despite this. In other words, you want to know if, legally, you can change the custodial arrangement by applying to the court in the face of opposition from your father.

Since he is the custodial parent by court order, you will have to convince the court that the present custody order should be amended. There is a presumption that the order should stand unless you can show that the circumstances that resulted in your father being given sole custody have changed to the extent that the custodial arrangement should also change.

The court having jurisdiction over custody will consider several factors. Chief among them is what is in the "best interests of the minor." This means that neither you, your mother or your father have final say. At your age, the court will give you an opportunity to explain your reasons. The court will give them due consideration, but will not be bound by them.

Since your father has full custody, there may have been good reason why your mother was denied even joint custody as so often is the case these days. If your mother had been adjudged unfit for your custody then you probably will not be able to live with her unless her circumstances have changed to the extent that she is no longer deemed an unfit mother. For example, if she had been addicted to drugs, she will still be deemed unfit unless she proves to the court that she no longer is and is not likely to become addicted again. If she had been unable to properly support and maintain you, she would have to prove that she now is capable of doing so.

It is also possible that your father's circumstances have also changed to the point where he is no longer an unfit parent even though he had been at the time of the original order.

Every circumstance that affects the living conditions of the minor may be brought before the court; however not every change for the better will be enough to warrant a change in custody. An order for custody is always changeable whenever the circumstances that supported the original order have changed and if a change in the custodial arrangement is in the best interests of the minor.