Court rules that custody of Sean Goldman be handed over to his father.

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Technorati Tags: boy, Brazil, David Goldman, five years, International, Jeffrey Kofman, return home, seán, Supreme Federal Tribunal

What’s the difference between me having legal custody of a child and adopting him/her?

Legal custody = not permanent

Adopting = it’s your child!

My daughter chose to live with her dad when she was 12 because she knew she would have more freedom. She has been with him for 3 years now and he is neglectful. I can prove he is unfit. I cannot afford an attorney. What steps do I need to take? I do not know what forms to fill out and how to figure child support he will have to start paying me.

I live in georgia and have been in this system for 3 years fighting, so I know a lot about it.

I am sorry to say that IF your child is 15 and not in physical danger you will most likely not be able to get her back. She is 15 and rebelling and not going to be really pleasant and the courts know this. The only shot you have is if she wants to switch houses, but the dad could be on drugs and still not be found as unfit.

Final custody is final custody in georgia, and it is hard to take a child away from that. However, to answer your question…..if you wanted to file for a motion to modify you can find the forms on line for your county, or you can find them for another county and change the name of the county. Then in order to find out the child support just go to the child support services web site and work on the support calculator…..but I really don’t think you have much of a shot unless your daughter chooses to live with you.

I live in Mississippi. I was never married to my ex. We lived together in Florida and split up when our daughter was 1 because of domestic violence and infidelity in 2001. He is still with the woman he originally cheated on me with although they are still not married. I am married now and have another 4 year old child with my now husband of 3 years. I moved to Mississippi in 2002. My daughter always lived with me although my ex and I never made a custody arrangement legal I always allowed him frequent basically relaxed schedule visits and never pursued child support (HUGE mistake by the way). In 2006 he kept my daughter after I allowed him to have a extended visitation before she started kindergarten and filed for custody behind my back as well as enrolled her in school in Florida behind my back. The Judge decided to allow things to remain "status quo" until we could go to court to determine custody which means since she was in his possession she was to remain with him even though she’d been living with me her entire 5 year life. Long story short a 2 year custody battle ensued which ended up even after the amazing onslaught of evidence I had against him (which I’d be happy to explain if asked) the court ended up allowing him to keep custody essentially because she was born in Florida and she was there during the 2 year battle that he got his attorney to drag out and so at that point they didn’t want to remove her and make her change schools. The final judgment was made in summer 2008 with ME paying HIM $570 a month in child support.

Ok now for the actual question. I just found out that he and his girlfriend were evicted from their rental home in August 2009 for non payment of rent ( they have moved into a new home), was arrested for writing a bad checked in May but is just being arraigned for a plea next week (12/14), AND was arrested last month for felony possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia with intent to transport, driving while license suspended, and without a seat-belt. And that arraignment for a plea is the next day on 12/15. So essentially he’s going to court 2 days in a row for 2 different arrests, the latter being a Felony possession of drugs. I have been told it is EXTREMELY difficult to get a modification in Florida but this should be plenty of grounds right? Even if its the middle of school year and she’d have to switch schools since I live out of state? What should I expect out of the hearing/ how will the process go? I can’t really afford a lawyer but by previous attorney agreed to kind of file help me with the paperwork. My previous attorney already told me I’ll need to wait to even start the process until he’s actually convicted of these charges and I absolutely shouldn’t reveal to him I am aware of his legal problems. I’m basically just looking for answers to my upper questions and some advice/insight from anyone especially someone with experience/knowledge.

I already know I need some more advice from an attorney so please don’t tell me that, it’ll be weeks before I can take that step and I’m just looking for other advice/suggestions/expectations to keep me sane until then I’ll absolutely award the best answer points to the person who genuinely took the time to read this and answer the best, Thanks so much for your time!

I know you hate to hear it but you have to wait and be patient. The moment he is convicted of the drug thing or a felony you can file for an emergency hearing and modification of custody based on the fact that he was convicted of a jail-able crime and you do not want your daughter "in the system" or around that bad influence.

In the mean time an anonymous tip to child protective services probably wouldn’t be a bad idea…if he was convicted of possession and paraphernalia, do you think he can piss clean on demand? That will not get her taken away from him, but it will open up an investigation. And it shouldn’t be linked back to you because for all he knows they see if all people up for felony charges have kids. But be warned, your world better be squeaky clean because if they find something and CPS does take her your local CPS will do an evaluation of your home to make sure it would not be a danger to give her to you.

That is what I would do, but I have been known to get pissed off and be impulsive.

I’m 14 and I really really REALLY hate going over to my dads.
He has a girlfriend who I DO NOT get along with. I hate her.
I’m serious, she calls me stupid ( I have a 4.0) she talks bad about my mom ALL THE TIME she says horrible things that make me cry.
I never have time to study there. I was studying for a spanish test (my hardest subject) and she yelled at me and told me I needed to get off my but and help clean the house.
EVerytime I go over there I end up crying.
I love my Dad, but he is a totally different person over there. And I cant deal with it anymore.
I told him last month that I didnt want to go over anymore, and he blew up and started cussing and stuff.
Its not a good enviorment, and I really really cant take it.
What are the child custody laws in california?
Its obviously going to get ugly, but if I tell a judge that I hate it over there, will he or she let me not go over there anymore?
Thank you.
oh yeah..
and I cant see a theripist.
my dad told my mom he would sue her and the therpist if I tried to see one..

Sorry to hear what you have to put up with. I’m sure the custody laws in California are complex so I cannot answer them. The next time your dad’s girlfriend yells at you, call the police. She should have no authority over you and no hand in disciplining you.

Now promise that when you grow up you will very carefully pick a good person to marry and raise children with so you don’t put your kids through this kind of hell. Adults can be very selfish and expect their kids to just take it. Vow to never be this way.

what should a father do if he has joint custody with a mother who has left 3 times this last time being about 9 months then all of sudden comes back and demands to have the kids on xmas? do you think its possible this mother would leave again?

Take those facts to court and get the visitation/custody modified, or the mother reduced to supervised visitation only.

Of course it is possible the mother could leave again… with the kids.

Is the child asked questions in court (whether in the actual court room or elsewhere)? If so what sort of questions? How much choice does the child have over the matter?

Typically a court will not take the opinion of a child into account until they are about 13 in most states. Before that the child is viewed by the court as not having a firm grasp on what is in their best interest and may just choose the parent who has more money, or gives them more stuff. In those cases a Guardian ad Litem is typically appointed to ascertain which parent is in the best interest of the child. Sometimes the GAL will speak to the child, some times they don’t have to. Typically a child will not be asked to speak to the court unless they are older and are telling the Judge their preference of who they would like to live with, and even then, they had better have a better reason than "My mom/dad buys me more stuff and lets me stay up late so I want to live there"

I live in A different city and county that my children live in (with their father) and my lawyer is in a separate county than both of us. Which county do i file child custody in? Or do I have to go the same county where the same judge handled out case with? I dont know how the florida child custodu rules go just yet. Im learning as we speak.

You file in your residing county.

Okay I think I have everything I need, but I just need a little guidance, just to make sure. Can anyone help me?

Please trust me that you need to speak to a family lawyer not a shade tree lawyer from Y!A. Please go to social services of family services and if you cannot afford one they can see that one gets appointed to you or one on a sliding scale basis. This is one of the most important things in your life and everything has to be done properly and all the i’s have to be dotted and t’s have to be crossed. Please get a family lawyer…most of the time they will cost you nothing. Good luck.
Happy Holidays!!!

My husband and I are going out of the country next week. In the event we should both die, could my mother get custody of my kids? She will be watching them for us while we are away and I was planning to leave a letter with her stating that if we should not make it back that she will be the legal guardian of them and have both my husband and myself sign it. Would that be sufficient or do I need to go through some kind of legal process?

my parents did a notarized thing when they went to las vegas that said that my moms best friend and her husband would be our guardians and my grandparents could live in our addition apartment