Do children get to decide where they live?

One of the biggest things that parents will ask when they go through a divorce is if the children get to choose where they’re going to live. They want to know who’s in charge of determining child custody.

In some cases, this concern may stem from the fact that the child has already expressed their desire. Upon finding out about the divorce, the child may have said that they wanted to live with one spouse or the other. Odds are that the spouse who was not chosen is concerned that they won’t get to see their child. But is this how it works?

Many factors have to be taken into account

If you’re concerned about this, remember that the court considers a lot of different factors when deciding what the optimal child custody schedule is. And, in many cases, the court is going to err heavily on the side of allowing the child to live with both parents. Even if the child doesn’t want to be involved in shared custody, courts usually think that this is actually best for the child anyway, and they will rule this way.

That’s not to say that your child’s decision won’t play into this. 

For teenagers and other older children, courts may ask them what they want and listen to their requests. If your child really wants to live with the other parent, they will likely get a chance to say so. But the court is going to consider that request as one of the factors to go along with everything else, and they are not bound to give the child exactly the custody arrangement that that child is asking for.

Child custody situations can get very complicated and you need to make sure that you know about all of your legal options. You want to do everything you can to protect that precious parent-child relationship despite your divorce.