Child Custody Legal Answers

I think my ex should have his visits with my daughter be supervised. I live in Sacramento and he lives in the Bay area. Because of the distance, he only sees our daughter every other weekend. He is a big drinker and I’m worried that he’s drinking again on the weekends she is with him. She isn’t old enough to know exactly what he’s doing, but she does describe some things that make me think he’s drunk around her. If I don’t think my daughter is safe when she’s with her father, what do I need to do to have his visits be supervised by someone, at least for awhile to determine if he can stay sober when he’s around our child? Because he lives 2 ½ hours from me, it isn’t practical for me to be the one to supervise and I don’t think he’d allow it even if I could.

I have 3 kids with my ex-husband and since our divorce, my kids have lived mostly with him because he lives closer to their school and friends. I had to move farther away to find a house I could afford after the divorce. I do get alot of time with the kids under our divorce agreement. Now their dad is saying he is moving from Indianapolis to Chicago, over 3 hours away. If he does that and takes our kids, I won’t be able to see them at all during the week or go to any of their sports or activities. Even weekend visits will mean over 6 hours round trip in the car for them. I don’t necessarily want to change physical custody if the kids stay here in Indianapolis because they are happy and doing well. But I don’t want them moving 3 hours away. Can I ask a court for sole legal custody to stop their dad from moving with them? Is the fact that his move would make our custody schedule impossible under the current settlement agreement matter? Can I enforce it and stop the move?

My ex and I share custody of our two kids. He is emotionally abusive to them and they are getting old enough now that it’s affecting them – they are doing worse in school, acting out at home, and he won’t agree to let me put my younger son in counseling. Will proving emotional abuse be enough to get full custody of them and how do I do that? Can their teachers testify? Also, he’s supposed to be paying me child support because he earns more but he’s never on time. If I do get custody, can I get the child support increased and get it taken out of his paycheck?

I reported my daughter’s father for child abuse to the New York Office of Children and Family Services and they did an investigation. They said they could not prove he abused my daughter because she’s too young to say what happened, but they couldn’t rule it out, either. I know my daughter and I know he did something to her. Before this, we shared custody of her but now I don’t trust him and I want full custody, and for his visits to be supervised. I want to know whether I can appeal OCFS’s finding that the abuse wasn’t definitely proven and how to go about getting sole custody of her?

My 24 year old daughter was disabled as a result of a car crash when she was 11. Her mother and I were married at the time and cared for her jointly until we divorced when she was 18. Since that time, she’s been living primarily with her mother and I have had weekend visits with her in my home. She will never be able to care for herself. Her mother and I never pursued any type of formal guardianship because there didn’t seem to be a need to do so. Her mother recently remarried and the new husband is not kind at all to my daughter. She tells me how unhappy she is at her mom’s home and that she is scared of him. She wants to come live with me but her mother will not consent. What do I need to do to get custody, or should I be pursuing some sort of adult guardianship?