Worcester Probate and Family Court
I represented the father of a 15 year old girl who was seeking physical custody of her. The Complaint for Custody was filed. The child was born out of wedlock and raised primarily by her mother. However, the father maintained a close relationship with his daughter and the daughter wanted to reside with the father. Mother verbally berated the daughter about this by yelling at her nose to nose for hours and the daughter’s grades began to suffer in school. Mother would actually bait daughter into physical confrontations with her. The father helped the daughter with her homework and became concerned about her declining grades. He sought help from school authorities (i.e. counseling, tutoring) for his daughter. Mother believed this help was unnecessary. Mother also refused to permit daughter to bring gifts from father and his family into her home and would not allow the daughter to initiate telephone contact with the father while in her custody. Further, mother would prohibit members of father’s family telephone contact with daughter.
The trial for the matter took two days. During cross examination of mother, she actually admitted to physical contact with the daughter and she felt the daughter did not need counseling.
Result: The Worcester Probate and Family Court awarded physical custody of the daughter to father.
