What are a father's rights in joint legal custody? What if the custodial parent wants to move?

My parents have joint legal custody of me, and I visit my dad every other weekend and split holidays. I live with my mother, but it has been really rough the past few years. She has some mental health issues (severe depression, paranoia etc.) and since my parents divorced about 6 years ago she has quit 2 jobs, been fired from one job, moved apartments 6 times, and we are currently living in the basement of my aunt's house about 40 miles away from my school (I travel 4 hours round trip just to get to and back from school). She has exhausted all of her unemployment checks and savings and is living off of my child support money and my college fund. Despite having no money, she has involved herself in an expensive lawsuit against her previous employers. She also gets irrationally angry over small things and talks often and openly about suicide to me but refuses any type of help.



My dad, who has a stable job and residence, offered to try to change my custody, but seeing as I have only 6 months left until I graduate from high school I said I would stick it out. Now, suddenly, she has decided that she wants to move to Arizona next month in order to avoid facing a judge in her lawsuit case who she is convinced will rule against her. We currently live in Illinois. If she does this, I would not be able to visit my dad (who still lives in Illinois), would have to change schools the last few months before graduation and potentially risk losing a college scholarship which is specifically meant for Chicago public school students.



Does my dad have the right to prevent her from making this move since he has joint custody? Are there any legal recourses available to prevent this? Also, how difficult would it be to change custody? Basically, I want to know what my options are!What are a father's rights in joint legal custody? What if the custodial parent wants to move?
Yes, you file can file an injunction to prevent you being moved. Send him this. Also, you sound like a good child. I hope you have a bright future.



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Your mom sounds really ill. I think the lawsuit and ideas about the judge are psymtomatic of that. Your dad could easily ask that she be subjected to a psych evaluation. I think that would change custody pretty easily.What are a father's rights in joint legal custody? What if the custodial parent wants to move?
by law she cannot move and deprive your father his visitation rights. also your old enough that you can go live with your father and your mother cant do anything about it.
Honey, hasn't your Dad contacted a local attorney to find out what HIS rights are, with regard to protecting YOURS? You are still a minor, and as such, Dad needs to petition the court to have a guardian ad litem appointed on your behalf. This is a person who becomes your advocate in the matter of reviewing custody. The combination of your mother's instability and the fact that she has depleted your child support funds and college funds, should establish that it is in your best interest to have custody awarded to your father. The best thing that could happen to you would be for your mother to move to Arizona and stay there. The part about the lawsuit makes no sense. When people sue their former employers, they usually have lawyers who take the case on a contingency basis, meaning that if the lawyers didn't think the case stood a good chance in court, they wouldn't take it. Something's not adding up there, but that is your mother's problem, not yours. You have a bright future ahead of you. Don't let anybody break your stride.

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