Q: In alabama my 16 year daughter does not want to go to her fathers house,how old does she have to be to refuse to go?
A: As the custodial parent, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to help foster the relationship between your daughter and your ex! One of the major problems that the children of divorce have is that the parents don't WORK TOGETHER for the benefit of the kids. I don't know what your ex-husband's failings might be...he may have many. But under Alabama Law, when you got custody of your daughter, you got the responsibility of helping to nurture the relationship between her and her father. In order to do this, you need to get off the question of what your daughter wants. You need to do things that make it easy for her to see her dad. I'm sure dad doesn't help, but you can't control what he does...you only control what you do. When you ASK your daughter whether she wants to go see her dad then you are undermining her relationship with him. She knows that YOU think he's a schmuck...shoot, he might BE a schmuck. She knows you like to hear HER say that her dad's a schmuck. And she wants to please you! Instead of asking her, find ways that you can help her enjoy her visits with her dad. Don't help her find ways of NOT going. To answer your question: Legally, in Alabama, your daughter is not an adult until she's 19. She needs to follow the rules until she is an adult. Good Luck.
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