Can a 12 year old decide which parent they want to live with in georgia?

Answer 1

No. The child must be 18, the legal age of majority in Georgia, before they can make that decision themselves.

However the child is always free to make their wishes known to the judge, either in court when custody/visitation is being decided or request a modification to the original visitation order by requesting a meeting with the judge, writing a letter to the judge expressing their wishes, or engaging an attorney or guardian ad litem to speak for them. The judge will take into consideration the wishes of the child, and generally, the older the child, the more weight is given to those wishes.

Ultimately, however, the judge will rule depending on what he or she feels would be in the best interests of the child.