Sole Legal Custody

Question: Does sole legal custody allow me to appoint someone other than my ex as the children's guardian if I die? My ex husband is an alcoholic and unstable and can be mean. I am going to court to file for sole legal custody and supervised visitation. I have a child with special needs. I want to make sure that if something were to happen to me that I would legally be able to appoint a more stable guardian? Does anyone know if this is true.? I live in NJ.

Answer: Once you're in the ground it will be difficult to control what happens above the ground !!

Question: If I have sole legal custody can my childs father take her 3 hours away with out my knowledge or permisson? We never married, and I have papers that state that I have sole legal custody of my child. Her father has no visitation. In my childs best intrest we set up our own. It has worked for five years. Until he got a new girlfriend. What I want to know is can he take her over 3 hours from our hometown without my knowledge or permission. And what can I do to make sure it doesn't happen again if he's not allowed.

Answer: Doctor wise is wrong, it is not kidnapping to take your own child. Just because you have legal custody, that does not give you the legal right to deny the father visitation. And, during that visitation, he has the right to take her a certain distance away. Assuming she is of a reasonable age to be away from you that long, no court is going to have a problem with him doing so. Maybe you should get a legal visitation order. Then, at least you will know when he is to have her ahead of time. But, if you start fussing about him taking her to see the girlfriend, you're going to end up causing a lot of conflict. You had to know that eventually there would be another woman in the picture. Unless she's dangerous, the best thing you can do is to make it as friendly as possible so your daughter doesn't have any problems with her.

Question: Will the court grant sole legal custody if one parent goes to jail? Will a court award sole legal custody to me b/c the father of my son will be in jail for 6 months? Prior to him going to jail we had court ordered joint legal custody and the father had every other week visitation with my son. What are my chances of getting sole legal custody? We live in CA.

Answer: You do not forfeit your right to have custody simply because you are in jail. It will temporarily affect placement, but not custody. The court will not take away his parental rights unless you can prove he is an unfit father.

Question: can i get sole legal custody if he leaves? my totally uninvolved 3 time a month visiting ex husband has said he is going back to his country do i have the right to sole legal custody?

Answer: It really depends on who the biological parents are and if you are actually talking about children.

Question: Can I obtain sole legal custody while father is in jail in Va? We now share joint custody, I have primary physical custody. I am trying to get my children's passport for a trip this summer and am not getting much cooperation from him as usual. He has been in and out of jail for the past 3 years.

Answer: absolutely.

Question: if i have sole legal custody who claims the child at the end of the year for taxes? No legal order has been other than to appear in court. since i do not have an attorney and neither does the father, how will it be determined who claims the child at the end of the year for tax purposes?

Answer: legal custody and the child living with you for 6 months straight during the year is all you need. That would mean that you claim the child. The legal custody means nothing.

Question: How hard is it for me to have legal sole custody? I had my daughter six months ago. Her father signed the birth certificate but lives in another state and only visited for a week when she was born and five days when she was three months old. He sends $100/wk for support but it is not court ordered. How do I get sole custody finalized? How hard will it be?

Answer: You have (unofficial) primary custody already, what do you mean by sole custody? If you mean you want is parental rights terminated, you have less than 1% chance based on what you have said. You should, however, go to court and officially become the primary custodian. Obviously, he will be given visitation rights and you can also request the court to order appropriate child support, that way it will be all official and depending upon what he earns he may have to pay far more than what he is paying right now. Your present unofficial arrangement is not good, there should be an official order, declaring the parental rights. What if he just comes and picks up the kid one day and disappears or refuses to bring the kid back. If there is no court order in place he could not be even charged with kidnapping.

Question: How does one get legal sole custody of their child? What does it take to be granted legal sole custody? I heard that it is hard to be granted sole custody, but I just want to know exactly what it takes. Thanks.

Answer: Hire a really good attorney.

Question: Do I need a lawyer to file for sole legal custody? I have joint with primary physical custody at the moment.

Answer: You can file if you have some legal training but it is a very complicated process and a lawyer would be able to make sure you had the best possible chance in succeeding.~

Question: I have sole legal custody of my children and have a supervised visit with the mother today can i miss? can i miss or reschedule a meeting without getting in trouble. just had my 5th back surgery and hurting to bad to drive or hardly walk but i do not want a warrent or hurt mt standing with the court.

Answer: It's a little late now, but for future reference, this is something you should have discussed with the monitoring service what you had your surgery. If you were the mother, it would not be a problem, but I the same may not be with you. Is there a reason why someone else could not take the children to the appointment? The supervising service may even have a transport service available. On another matter, I hope her sessions with the children are being video taped. Also, is she getting help to resolve the issues requiring the supervised visitation?

Question: I have sole legal custody of my son, do I need my ex’s permission to take out of the country? custody papers dont say and he does not have a passport yet. We live in MO.

Answer: You cannot get him a passport without his father's signature, a court order giving you sole custody or an affidavit explaning why you cannot get the father's signature.

Question: I just got sole legal custody and physical custody of my son.? I just got sole legal and physical custody of my son and I would like to know if I can get my sons passport for whenever I need to travel can anyone help me :)

Answer: You still need the signature of the other parent to get a passport even if you have sole custody.

Question: My husband took my son out of state and i've been granted custody, sole legal and physical.? I reside in California, I went to court and was granted sole legal and physical custody of my son. I have the minutes and it was signed and stamped by the county clerk. I called the police where my son resides in Nevada and they told me I have to hire a lawyer in Nevada. This makes no sense to me since I was awarded custody but if the police don't back me up what can I do?

Answer: it's parental interference. and it depends did he take the boy before or after the custody case was decided? you have to contact your lawyer and he will then tell you what you need to do!

Question: I have sole legal custody. Can my ex sue on my daughter's behalf? My daughter was bitten by my mother's dog on May 13th, requiring facial surgery. I already have an agreement worked out with her homeowner's insurance company that will create a trust for her to pay her medical bills necessary to restore her face. Today, my ex had my mother served. He's suing her for Madeline's pain & suffering, and supposed crippling fear & emotional instability due to the incident, and he's claiming $25+ in medical bills. First, all the bills are in my name, and there's only $11k. Emotionally, she's just fine. I have to tell her not to pet strange dogs at the park. He is bringing this law suit in an attempt to squeeze money out for himself. He's not an active parent- he's seen the kids 3 times in the last two years, so I have a hard time believing in his sudden burst of empathy for her. Since I have sole legal custody, can he bring a lawsuit on her behalf? I live in Michigan....the case will be in Huron County I think, since that's where my mother lives. I only asked for the $ necessary to cover her medical bills, and several thousand extra for scar remediation. I consider it 'blood money' because it was won through tragedy, and there's no way i could bring myself to spend it on anything other than her face.

Answer: Check with a lawyer. Remember the recent case of the "under god" in the pledge of allegiance that went up to the Supreme Court? They turned down his suit saying he didn't have standing because he was not the custodial parent. I think there's a good argument to make against your ex's standing to file.

Question: Is it fair for a mother that if she does not give sole legal & physical custody of her daughter to her daddy,? Is it fair for a mother that if she does not give sole legal & physical custody of her daughter to her daddy, she will only get $25.00 in child supporta month? It would cost the father more than $25.00 a month if she lives with her daddy. The mother went to court, and this is all she gets. This is 100 percent mothers choise?

Answer: Try phrasing your question a little better. Your grammar is horrible.

Question: what is the difference between sole legal custody and sole physical custody?

Answer: I think that you have the terms incorrect. Depending on what state you live in (Family Law is state specific, so I apologize if your state uses those terms - you might be correct), the terms are usually Joint Legal Custody, Joint Physical Custody, and Sole Legal/Physical Custody. The term "legal" is inherent in the custody arrangement - it can't be legal unless a court orders it, so until then, you don't technically have "legal custody", sole or not. Having said that, Sole Legal/Physical Custody is when one parent has sole custody of a child (as ordered by the court). Joint Legal Custody is when one parent has primary physical custody (or sole physical custody) of the child, and the other parent has decision making authority. Joint Physical Custody is just that - a 50/50 sharing of overnight's with the child. Hope this helps.

Question: Can my sister who has legal and sole custody of her daughter take her out of the country? My sister needs to travel out of the country in November and wants to take her daughter. She is divorced from the father and she has legal and physical custody of the child. The father is currently in prison (I don't know if that makes a difference). Can she take her out of the country or does she need permission from the father to do so? They would be going to Chile, South America and it would be for 12 days during the Thanksgiving holidays.

Answer: Check out travel.state.gov. it lists what is needed to obtain a passport for a minor. Unless the court order granting sole legal and physical custody restricted the travel in some way, your sister should be able to take her child out of the country.

Question: Is there a DIFFERENCE in SOLE LEGAL CUSTODY and SOLE CUSTODY? I am having a go round with passport people and everyone it seems like. to make a long story short, I am just wondering if there is a difference in SOLE LEGAL CUSTODY and SOLE CUSTODY? I need to know if anyone out there truly knows. I have looked it up and researched it and the definitions for both seem to say the same thing. THe passprot people told me that the custody papers had to say those 3 words SOLE LEGAL CUSTODY or I would have to have the other parents consent. It just seems like it is always something different other than what i am trying to do. They said that it cant just say Custody or sole custody that it had to say what I stated above. As I was looking over the custody papers that i have it just says sole custody. Can anyone give any advise that knows what I am talking about please..Thank you!!

Answer: Sole legal custody means you can make decisions for the child, like traveling. If you only have sole physical custody, that only means the child lives with you. So there is a big difference.

Question: Do I have sole legal custody of my child? Hello. I am a single mother to a 15 month old little girl and her father is not in her life at all. Occassionally he would call to see her for a couple of hours but that was mainly so his family could see her which I had no problem with what so ever. But then when I filed for child support he denied he was the father so now thats gonna be a long process of DNA testing and junk and he even said he knows hes her dad, he just didnt want to pay right away. Needless to say he is just not the father he should be and is just very selfish. My question hardly has anything to do with that I just got carried away... lol... My question is, do I right now have sole legal custody of my daughter? Or do I need to file it or something? I have heard that it's 'automatic' that I have sole custody but others tell me I need to file it and establish it. I am so confused by how all of this court stuff works and I actually have a billion more questions on the topic but for now yall can help me with that. =) BUT if you do have some good advice or a good website with tons of info that would be great! Thanks!!!

Answer: Yes, you have sole custody in all states. I teach fathers how to fight for their rights. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Question: Apply for Sole Legal Custody in FL? I wanted to know how I would go about appling for sole legal custod of my son. I was never married to his father and his father's not in his life, but i'm trying to get my son a passport and both parents have to sign, and just to be as A**, he doesn't want to sign. The only way I would be able to get him a passport is to have sole legal custody of him. He's always lived with me and his faher isn't around and doesn't help out. thank you in advanced.

Answer: The ONLY, and I mean ONLY way the state of Florida will award sole custody is if you can prove in court that the father by being in the childs life is a danger to the health and well being of a child. In order to do this you must prove the father has been violent, abusive, or threatening around the child. Also if the parent has a long standing track record of alcohol or subsance abuse and has not been able to recover. In a few cases judges have also awarded sole custody if the parent was violent in front of the child but not actually toward the child. Florida hates awarding sole custody. The preference is toward joint. Just because the guy is a loser does not mean the judge will revoke parental rights. To get the ball even rolling in anyway you need to get a child support order and an order for visitaion. If the father is indeed unfit you need documented proof like police reports, copies of drug or dui convictions, failed drug test reports, DCF reports, written proof. The courts absolutely will not hear cases based solely on verbal complaints for sole custody. You can request that any vistation with the father be supervised at by a neutral party at a department of children and families facility. That way if daddy acts up in front of the child DCF will be there to see it.