Legal Question in Family Law in Minnesota

The Court will consider your son's wishes if he is a mature 16 year old. The Court does not, however, allow minor children (and at 16, your son is still a minor child) to decide where they are going to live. The Court will need to know information such as will he stay in the same school, is he likely to remain stable in school, in general, is the move in his best interests?

The other thing to consider is the immediate future as well as the long term future.

As for the immediate future I assume your son has about two years left to high school. A custody battle is not quick and is likely to take more than a year. Do you really want the last two years of your son's high school to be spent in a custody battle? The Courts have a very high standard when it comes to modifying custody, thus it moves cautiously and slowly.

As for the long term future - you and your son's mother relationship as parents does not end when your son graduates from high school. You will be attending graduations and other formal ceremonies in your son's future as well as holidays with your future grandchildren. We raise our children to be adults and our relationships with are children as adults are often tainted/limited as a result of conflicts between the parents. Finding ways to make peace with your son's mother pays dividends well into the future.

Finally, children, even adult children, do best when they have a meaningful relationship with both parents. It might be helpful if your son talked with other trusted adults in his life to come up with a plan as to how he wants to approach his mother with a plan that respects her as his mother as well as allows more time with you. Sometimes the best steps forward are baby steps.

I recommend you seek legal counsel from a family law attorney experienced in these issues and proceed carefully with any request to the Court.

Good Luck.