Legal paperwork question

[amphiktere]

Hi all. I need to see if anyone can answer a couple of questions for us. My husband has two sons - 16 and 17. The 17 year old wants to go live with mom his last year of high school. Right now, we have legal custody of the boys and have had legal custody of them for 3 years now. Mom does not pay child support, nor have we asked for it.

Now the 17 year old wants to move out, but the 16 year old wants to stay with us. Mom has said that she will not request child support, but we do not trust her. We do not have the money to go through the court system to change custody over to mom.. that would cost hundreds, if not a couple thousand, and for only a year! We live in the state of Texas.. in Austin to be precise. Mom is on government assistance for her other children, and we feel she will apply for government aid for her son and have the government come after us for child support.. which in our opinion is not fair since one child will remain with us (so one child with each parent) and the fact we have had these boys for 3 years and she has not paid a dime in child support.

My question is, what can do besides hiring an attorney to get a few things on paper that are legal? Is notarizing a document considered legal? In other words, if we type up a document stating "no child support will be paid for the next year" and other matters we want cleared up, and have it notarized, is this considered legal in the state of Texas? Will it be enough to hold up in court if it ever comes to that?

Any advice would be great appreciated.. we dont trust this lady and just want to have our backs covered. The 17 year old will not listen to us and we cant stop him from living with his mom (if we do, it will just result in the next year of extreme resentment and chaos.. to much trouble) - but, we are not willing to spend hundreds of dollars to go through the court system when he will be 18 next summer. We know that Texas greatly favors moms in child custody issues.. and the state could care less that we would still have one child living with us and not to mention the past three years!

Thanks,
Lisa

 

[muggsyj]

This is not legal Advice!




Hi Lisa,

So you have a seventeen year old that would like to move back to Mum's to do his to do his last year of high school.

Seems fine to me but why do you want to give up custody? Surely the deal would be that, although you remain the custodial parents over this boy, you will allow him to stay with his mum until such time he is finished High School.
Under the condition that she signs an agreement to the fact that you can not be held fully responsible for the up keep and welfare whilst this young man is being temporary looked after by Mum.

I am sure this young man would feel it is very unfair and un moralistic in a way to denied this request but if explain your situation to him "like an Adult" he may understand and then at least be fully aware of your predicament.

There is no hard and fast book to read for situations like this, I am afraid we all have to try and make the best decisions we can when it comes to children.


Good luck



Mark.