Legal Question in Family Law in Arizona
My ex is threatening to take me to court if I don't agree to putting my son, 14, in a seminary/religious class. My son attends a public school that allows certain students release time during school hours to attend seminary classes. My son has stated to me and his counselor that he does not want to attend seminary classes. He failed 2 classes last semester, and is taking a credit recovery class which my ex wants him to drop to take seminary instead. We have joint custody so the school will not allow my son to drop classes or change his schedule without consent from both parents, hence the threat of court proceedings from my ex.
Can a family court dictate the religion that children of a divorce are raised or participate in? Can they dictate that a child attend religious classes? Does this fall under separation of church and state?
1 Answer from Attorneys
First thing is to look at your divorce decree? There are two different types of custody. Physical and Legal Custody. What does the decree say? Was it joint legal and physical or some combination? If she has sole legal custody then you may be fighting an uphill battle. If you have joint legal custody then you normally would both have to have to agree on major decisions like where your son goes to school and religion. If you have sole legal custody than it is really up to you where your son goes to school. He is 14 so a judge may more willing to ask him what he would prefer to but judges generally don't want kids present in court because it is very unpleasant. I am being very general here and every case is unique. Please call a family law attorney to discuss in more detail.
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