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14 Year Old Custody Modification | Atlanta Family Law

Scott Shaw | 692 Views | 11/02/2015

Child Custody Modification

In this video, I will be discussing child custody modification when a child aged 14 years or older elects to live with the other parent. Georgia’s new child custody law gives both more and less power to children.

Modifying Custody for a 14 Year Old

A few years ago, the state of Georgia rewrote their laws. One surprising aspect of this rewrite was that the new law made the custody choice of a parent made by a child to his age 14 years or older as a matter of law meaning it’s in and of itself sufficient change in circumstances to modify custody, and this is a very big thing because this enables if a child age 14 or older decides to live with another parent that in and of itself is enough for a court to modify custody.

Whether the court will or not is another matter, but it gets you into court. However, what the law gives, the law also takes away. The new law also specifies that the custody election of a child aged 14 or older is only presumptive, and that the child’s custody election can be overcome if it can be proved by the other parent that the custody election is not in the child’s best interests, and this is a juxtaposition of the law as the old law gave the child more power to choose which parent they wanted to live with, but the choice itself was not sufficient to modify custody unless you had other facts to support the custody election.

Implications of Child’s Choice

What this means for parents of children aged 14 years or older is if your older child elects to live with the noncustodial parent, this custody election alone gets noncustodial parent into court and a real and legitimate case to get primary custody of their child. It will create a custody battle in case that either parent has a chance to win. I have personally defended many cases in which children as old as age 16 have elected to live with the other parent and have defeated that election. These have been some of the most difficult cases I have ever handled.

Custodial Parent Defense

However, under the new law, a custodial parent has a real fighting chance of defending against these cases. Long and short under Georgia’s new child custody law, the custody election of a child aged 14 years or older will get you into court and will give you a very powerful case for modification of custody. However, just because an older child elects to go under your custody does not mean that the court will comply with their election. These cases have become very hotly contested and nothing can be taken for granted in these cases. My name is Scott Shaw. If you have any questions, I would be happy to take your phone calls or any other inquiries. Thank you.

By: Scott Shaw

14 Year Old Custody Modification | Atlanta Family Law

Child Custody Modification

In this video, I will be discussing child custody modification when a child aged 14 years or older elects to live with the other parent. Georgia’s new child custody law gives both more and less power to children.

Modifying Custody for a 14 Year Old

A few years ago, the state of Georgia rewrote their laws. One surprising aspect of this rewrite was that the new law made the custody choice of a parent made by a child to his age 14 years or older as a matter of law meaning it’s in and of itself sufficient change in circumstances to modify custody, and this is a very big thing because this enables if a child age 14 or older decides to live with another parent that in and of itself is enough for a court to modify custody.

Whether the court will or not is another matter, but it gets you into court. However, what the law gives, the law also takes away. The new law also specifies that the custody election of a child aged 14 or older is only presumptive, and that the child’s custody election can be overcome if it can be proved by the other parent that the custody election is not in the child’s best interests, and this is a juxtaposition of the law as the old law gave the child more power to choose which parent they wanted to live with, but the choice itself was not sufficient to modify custody unless you had other facts to support the custody election.

Implications of Child’s Choice

What this means for parents of children aged 14 years or older is if your older child elects to live with the noncustodial parent, this custody election alone gets noncustodial parent into court and a real and legitimate case to get primary custody of their child. It will create a custody battle in case that either parent has a chance to win. I have personally defended many cases in which children as old as age 16 have elected to live with the other parent and have defeated that election. These have been some of the most difficult cases I have ever handled.

Custodial Parent Defense

However, under the new law, a custodial parent has a real fighting chance of defending against these cases. Long and short under Georgia’s new child custody law, the custody election of a child aged 14 years or older will get you into court and will give you a very powerful case for modification of custody. However, just because an older child elects to go under your custody does not mean that the court will comply with their election. These cases have become very hotly contested and nothing can be taken for granted in these cases. My name is Scott Shaw. If you have any questions, I would be happy to take your phone calls or any other inquiries. Thank you.

By: Scott Shaw