I have joint legal and physical custody of my 2 children, 11yo boy and a 9 yo girl. The children visit their father most days of the week and spend the night 8 nights a month.
The father lives in a 1 bedroom apartment and has a wife and another child. When my children visit, here is the sleeping arrangement:
The one bedroom has a bunk bed where my daughter gets the top bunk and dad and son get the bottom bunk. His new wife and baby sleep on the couch.
Our custody agreement states that the children must have beds. Aside from that, is there anything legally wrong with their overcrowded arrangement? My children are extremely uncomfortable. In my house, the two children each have their own rooms / beds.
What can I do, legally, to improve this situation?
Answer
You can send a letter to Dad stating that the current situation is not in compliance with the court order that both children have beds. It should be easy to remedy with a Murpy bed or equivalent, or even better, moving to a lager apartment. If this doesn't work - the only other option - is to go to court and request that overnights for Dad be cancelled until he complies. As for the disparity in the quality of living arrangements between your two households - that might not count for as much as you might think. The fact that children have to share rooms at one parent's house due to economic circumstances will not out weight the interest of the children in having frequent and continuing contact with both parents.
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