I'm 16 years old and my mother and step dad are splitting up and i want to stay with my step dad but my mom wants me to go with her so can i stay with my step dad in the state of west virginia even if my mom doesnt want me to
I'm 16 years old and my mother and step dad are splitting up and i want to stay with my step dad but my mom wants me to go with her so can i stay with my step dad in the state of west virginia even if my mom doesnt want me to
Probably not.
Your step father is a legal stranger. Yes, I know you love him but that doesn't change his claim to custody.
If your step father has legally adopted you (which would, actually, make him your father and not step father), this answer would change.
What law would that be?
That law does not exist.... at least not in the way you think it does.
A minor of 16 years can have their wishes known to the judge in a custody battle between the child's two legal parents. The judge will then take that information into account when deciding custody.
Further, it does not mean that the child's wishes force the judge's decision... they are simply heard.
That does not mean that a child can choose to live with whomever he/she wants at 16.
I'm in WV when my now husband seperated from his first wife he got visitation (it was all he asked for) of his step daughter, also if something happens to his ex he gets both his bio daughter and his step and there is a paper in the court house on file for that. See he raised the child since she was 14 mos old as his own. She calls him dad, and in every way he is her dad except for the biological part. I think the term the court used was "psychological father" of the child. Her bio dad visited very seldom, never paid a dime in support and was never there for her. He was told though that if bio dad wanted to go to court and get visits, pay support etc it could effect his legal standing. So if your bio father is out of the picture he might stand a chance at visits or even custody if his lawyer brings it up in court. In another case I know of the bio father was very active in the childs life and the step father who was only married to the mother for a year tried to get visits and it didn't go over big with the judge he got nothing becuase the child did not psychologicly think of him as a father because he already had a father in the picture. And both those cases were before the same judge.