Q: Who is responsible for transportation of child pick-up and drop-off? : We do not have it written down in our custody agreement but as of now she has being picking up and dropping off the child. She recently was told she needs to pay child support so she is refusing to drop off the child. I was under the impression that the secondary parent in responsible for both. A: In my experience, the courts expect the parent with the child to perform the drop off. Without any clause ordering pick ups or drop offs, it is left up to the parents to work it out. One thing that is definitely unfair is one parent being expected to do all of the driving.
Q: Can I change the locks to my house? I am getting divorced, my wife voluntarily moved out of my house that I purchased before marriage. She claims I can't do that. A: One spouse cannot exclude the other spouse from the marital home that they both lived in together. This does not mean that locks cannot be changed, but if they are, she has a right to ask for a new key or, if she wanted to, force her way in. The police will not charge her with trespassing or breaking and entering if she could prove that it was her home. If she has no reason to go back in but is making your friend nervous, he should file a Petition for Interim Exclusive Possession of the house. This petition, if granted, would disallow his wife from returning. Since the house was his prior to the marriage, he might have his petition granted. This would solve his problem.
Q: While I was in jail for a short time, opposing counsel talked me into signing a custody order that took away most of my time with my child. Can I ever be a parent again? A: Yes, you can. You need to file a petition to modify custody and get a new order in which you are given time with your child. Custody can always be modified based upon changed circumstances. Your release from jail certainly counts as that. The court will award you partial custody or visitation, depending on your criminal history and where you are right now in your life. If you live too far away to get the child to school during your time, you could expect some weekend time.
The non custodial parent lives very far away and continually calls our 6 year old. These daily calls last about one hour. Some of the time is spent communicating with members of his new household. I am concerned that the other parent is trying to say to the child on the other end of the phone, see what your missing? I'm afraid it's hurting the child. A: A non-custodial parent is often given the right to speak with a child but it has to be reasonable. Constant phone calls is going too far. A call at bed time that lasts a reasonable amount of time is acceptable. Don't question the content of the phone calls and the possible intention behind it. The other parent may honestly want to feel connected to the child and has only this one way of doing so. Another possibility is that he believes phone time is an important part of showing the court that he or she is an involved parent. You might want to go back to court to resolve this issue. Although it comes with a cost, obtaining an order that clearly states how much phone contact is reasonable will put this issue to rest for you.
Q: The father has denied paternity and demanded I stop contacting him. He has a criminal record and was locked up when I was pregnant. He claims he will fight for full custody and take my child away if I try to get child support from him. I don't want his to have contact with our son. What do I do? A: The father cannot escape his duties as a father. Your child needs you to file a petition for child support with the court and, along with it, the necessary paperwork for a petition to determine paternity. The court will order the testing and the father will have to comply. Once established, he will be ordered to pay child support. As for his threat to obtain full custody, given the facts you stated, he would get - at most - partial custody in a limited amount only if he proved capable of taking care of the child overnight. Otherwise, he would only be given supervised visitation. Based upon his reaction to the idea of support, he probably would not follow through with a custody fight for even visitation.
Q: If I do not have a driver's license, will I be denied custody? A: Custody does not depend upon having a driver's license. Some ways that it might effect it: If your children needed to see a doctor regularly and you would need a car to take them, the custody schedule would be set up so that the other parent had the children on appointment days. If you live so far away from the children's school that you would need a car to take them, you might be limited to having them on weekends. If there is no overwhelming need for a car, then your custody schedule would probably not be effected. Custody rarely depends upon one single factor such as driving. Pennsylvania usually seeks to find a custody schedule that offers as close to 50-50 custody time for each parent as possible, dependent on the schedules of the parents and the children's schooling. Barring any other major factors left out of your question, you will not "lose" your children.
Does a child have to have a bedroom and bed at a parent's house? The living conditions at a parent's house can effect the custody decision to some degree. If the child would be uncomfortable or lack privacy, the court might limit the amount of overnights that that parent will have.
Q: What is the most important element in a custody case that will cause the court to award primary custody to a parent?
A: Take care of all their little needs each day. Pick them up at school, drop them off at soccer practice, buy their clothes.
Daily care is the single most important thing for the children, and therefore in the eyes of the court.
When daily care develops into a strong, friendly relationship, the children are better off and your importance in their lives, every day, cannot be doubted.