Michigan Living Will Papers
Can you choose which parent you want to live with at the age of 16?
I am living with my mother, i have been since my parents divorced when i was three, my parents have joint custody and i see my dad two days every week and every other weekend. I am having a lot of problems with my mom, and i do not get along with her. I recently told her i wanted to live with my dad, and being mad, she let me. I lived with him for 3 weeks, seeing my mom every other weekend. She said that shes making me move back with her now, because she doesnt like not knowing anything when i live with my dad, so she said since it is written in custody papers that i live with her more, I have to come back. When I am 16 years old in Michigan, can I decide which parent to live with? Or do me and my dad have to go to court against my mom, and will they let me live with my dad still seeing my mom every other weekend? I just want to know what I can do to live with my dad and not with my mom.
As long as you are under the age of 18, you will not be allowed to “choose” where you live. Only your parents or a judge can make this decision.
A twelve year old child usually has a “voice” in where s/he lives, though. This means that a judge will take the wishes of a twelve year old into account when deciding custody matters. This doesn’t mean that the judge will do whatever the child wants. The judge’s goal and primary responsibility is to make a decision that will be in the best interest of that child.
If you are an only child who does reasonably well in school and doesn’t get into trouble, and you have valid reasons for wanting to live with one parent or the other AND that parent is a reasonably good parent, chances are the judge will respect your wishes.
If you have siblings, it is more likely the judge will be inclined to keep all of you in the same home. If you have a preference to live with one parent because that parent doesn’t have rules/structure, etc., the judge probably won’t be too impressed.
If they are fighting in court over you, you can (and probably should) write a private letter to the judge without telling either of your parents that you are doing it. (If you tell one of your parents about it, that parent could be accused of manipulating you.) Your letter should be very polite and very factual and should explain in detail why you prefer to live with one parent over the other. (And, this letter will almost certainly be provided to each of your parents pretty quickly – so keep that in mind.)
Western Michigan University – Student Life Video – Student Affairs
