My dad won’t let me live with my mom

[Guest]

My parents are divorced and have a shared custody but my dad gets to choose where I live at and I bust my mom in summer and in Christmas break and I have always wanted to live with my mom since they first got a divorce I’m now 13 and I asked my dad if I can live with my mom and he said no and gave me all these reasons on why I should hate her and how I can’t be separated from my sister who is 14 when she dosnet even like me anyway and he didn’t give me any valid reason why I can’t live with my mom and my dad is living with my grandpa and grandma his mom and dad cause we sold our house and are saving up for a new one and it should be built in a year and when we first moved out I was in fifth grade now I’m in 8 grade I have been living with them for 4 years and my dad deployes to different states for 2 months and then comes back so pretty much he lives a lot and it’s like I just live with my grandparents and my mom dosnet have a lot of money and my dad said if she wants me to live with her he will take her to court but my mom dosnet have money and there is no way I can live with her and I don’t have barley any friends at my school and I’m much happier when I’m with my mom and when I’m with my dad I’m not as happy

[ccsmod3]

Thanks for reaching out to us here at National Runaway Safeline. We know that it can take a lot of courage to reach out for support, and we're glad you did. It sounds like you've spent a lot of time thinking about living with your mom, so it must be pretty frustrating to feel like you don't have a say in where you get to live. While we're not legal experts here at NRS, if your dad is saying he'll take your mom to court for custody, it might be your best bet to go that route if you want to live with her. You mentioned your mom not having money, but she may be able to get free or low-cost legal services. If you're interested in that, you can give us a call or chat with us and we can give you more specific information based on where you live. Otherwise you and your mom can research general legal aid in your area.

Please feel free to give us a call at 1-800-RUNAWAY if you want to chat in more detail about your situation. You can also chat with us through our website at www.1800runaway.org. We're available 24/7 and always happy to help.

Take care.

NRS