Granddaughter Wants To Live With Mother

[Martom]

My granddaughter wants to live with her mother, she is 15..her father has had custody since she was 9..he refuses to let her go..tells her she can live with her mother in Fl. then changes his mind & demands her return to Al., she is a freshman in High School & will flunk this yr cause of this, what can we do??? right now we have a paper demanding her return in 2 days back to Al., she has been here in Fl. since Dec 22nd, she is enrolled in a private school where she can attend 2 yrs of free college, he doesn't care for what is the best for her, doesn't she have any say in anything??? can she divorce him or something on that order???

[Anonymous]

The onus here is really on the child's mother. If the child had resided with her in Florida for more than six consecutive months, she may attempt to petition the Florida courts to take jurisdiction over the child custody issues. Otherwise, she can petition the Alabama courts to modify custody.

[Martom]

The mother called an Atty in Al during the daughters Xmas stay, after the father told her she could live with her mother, the Atty was to file papers changing custody so no one would get into trouble for the daughter not going back to Al. Well the father walked a paper thru to the Judge stating
immediate return on Jan 3rd, on the 9th the father spoke to the daughter & again said she could stay, knowing what he had up his sleeve, on Fri the 14th the paper was sent to mothers Atty & here we are... we thought we had to deal with an Atty from daughters juridician so hired one off the internet in Al. now we find out we could of had one here in Fl. but since the papers have been filed by the Atty in Al. no one in Fl. can take the case.
What a mess & what a disappointment for the daughter.. Its not fair..
the father changes his mind like the wind yet he always seems to be right.