Joint Legal Custody, And Son Wants To Move To Dad's, in California

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: CA

My exwife and I live about 10 miles from each other and we have joint legal and physical custody and she has primary physical custody (she has them approx 60%). Our daughter is about to turn 18 and she's moving to my home (her father) to attend college. Her brother is 14 and also wants to move to my home as his primary residence.

Neither home is bad or unstable, but my exwife has refused to listen to my son in his request to move. The only thing that would change is that my son would live 60% at my house and 40% at hers. (exact opposite of the original situation)

I want to support him and I think it would be best for him to be able to stay together with his sister.

If we have to take this to court, I will, but I was wondering if she even has a case, since we share legal custody.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I know that the child doesn't have full say until they're 18, but since his sister is moving over next month, if it does have to go to court, won't that help support his wish to live with his dad?

Many thanks in advance

If he goes to your house, will he be able to attend the same school, see the same friends and participate in the exact same activities as he does now while with mom? Will he have the same amount of supervision after school, evenings and weekends?

Thanks for your reply.

Because of the 10 mile distance, he will go to a different school than he would at his mom's, but my son is going into high school this fall and would be changing schools and friends anyway.

Moreover, since his mother lives in a less-than-desirable school district, my son has had to be a permit student in another school district, which means that all of his friends live far away and he's been unable to spend much time with them. My local high school is among the best and he would be able to attend without a permit and his friends would live very close to us.

As far as supervision, it would be the same if not better. My exwife was and is a stay-at-home mother (with 4 new kids under the age of 6) and my new wife also stays home with our 1 child.

As far as activities, other than church (which will remain the same), my son hasn't been able to do much because he lives so far from his schoolmates and also because his mother has 4 little kids to raise.

In our home, he should get more supervision and attention than he's currently getting.

Thoughts???

Many thanks.

It sounds like a solid case (IMHO) based on his sister moving in with you and the change to a better ranked high school.

Here is a link to the form you need
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/fillable/fl300.pdf

If you go to the family law facilitator's office (there should be at least one in your county) they can help you fill out the paperwork along with what ever financial disclosure is required.

When you file the papers you must also be sure to schedule mediation PRIOR to your court date. The judge will not be able to hear your case unless it has been mediated first.

If your X agrees to the switch then the whole process should be speedy and relatively inexpensive - like $40 in filing fees. If she wants to fight you could spend thousands on lawyers but it really won't change the facts and I think that money is better spent on the kids (my 2 cents.)

Keep in mind that the CS amount will also change based on the % switch. Good luck!

Thank you so much!

Hopefully my ex will simply honor my son's wishes and this won't be an ugly fight. However, based on what she told my son and how angry she gets when he tries to talk to her about it, I think it may have to go there, unfortunately.

She's not fun to face but I have to back my son on this. Thanks again for your kind help.