Reply #34: Decisions [View All]

Just FYI ---

My son-in-law is barred from making any decisions in his son's upbringing regarding school choice and religion. Though he pays child support and has limited visitation rights, his ex-wife has sole custody and can do what she wants.

He recently went to court to try to establish at least a consultation provision -- that he be consulted and his opinion noted should she decide to change any of the boy's basic routine regarding school, church, health care, etc. -- and that request was turned down on the basis that the boy lives with his mother in a state distant from his father, and that her parents are the only grandparents with regular contact (paternal grandparents are also in a distant state and are divorced from each other).

the only way the father will have any say in these issues if the mother relinquishes custody, dies, or is incapacitated. in the event of the latter two circumstances, even though he has legal precedence over the maternal grandparents, he would probably still have to fight them in court.