Child Custody in Florida

[tgud]

My sister currently has custody of her 8 year old son. She was never married and has raised her son on her own since he was born. Her son's father does not pay child support, but my sister does allow him to see his son on the weekends and they split the summer and holidays. Also, whenever he is in town, my sister never opposes to him spending time with his son. It has finally come to a point where she needed to request financial support. He has threatened to sue her for full custody if she ever did so. He has not been notified of her request for support yet, but she is concerned about his reaction and what legal processes she will need to go through if he does decide to "take him away."

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated. Her son has only lived with her, goes to school in Jacksonville (father moved to Orlando), and she already shares custody with his dad. Since she already shares custody, what are her chances of him actually winning FULL custody. She is a good parent, no drug or legal problems, she just recently graduated from college and is working, and they have lived in my parents' home since my nephew was born. My sister also has support of family (emotional/financial) and my nephew has his own room in my parents' home.

Again any opinions, advices, comments would be appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[Michael Wechsler]

On the surface, the chances of him winning full custody are extremely slim. The standard the courts use is "best interests of the child." The child usually stays with the mother, has been living with the mother for an extended period of time, well cared for, no dangers - what am I missing here? If it were me, I'd prefer to go to court - what do you think a judge will say if he/she is informed that the ex hasn't paid a dime towards child support in years? Additionally, why would you think that the child would be taken out of the existing home? Unless there is something you're not telling me, I can't see this being anything other than empty threats with no substance from a man who knows he can intimidate a woman. Best of luck.