Changing custody for 17 year old

[drgnfly799]

Hi.  I am the SM of two pretty good kids.  My SD is 17 and my SS is 13.  

Right now my DH's custody agreement is 50/50.  We have both kids Fri till Fri and the BM the next week.  This has worked great because both parties live close enough to one another to make this work.  And usually if anthing comes up swapping time hasn't been too big of a deal.

Last Oct. My SD asked to switch schools to the high school closer to us. (Still only 20 mins tops from her BM's)  We weren't sure because she was doing it to get away from some of her so called friends.  Anyway we made her wait until the end of the first semister before we okayed it.  Her BM got mad at her and told her that if she wanted to go to that school then she would have to live with us.  
Which is what happened, and SD has loved it!  (Which is hard to believe because we are a lot stricter than BM) Summer came and SD started staying with BM EOweek again but told her she wanted to be here for school.
Now BM doesn't want to sign any papers.
SD is really upset.  She is the one that went to the lawyer to draw up the papers.  She has set done with BM to talk about it and BM will have nothing to do with it.  SD has even told her that she'll take her to court if she has to.

My question is - SD is 17 (9 months til 18)  is there anything BM can really do to keep her from staying here if she really wants to?
I know that if DH or I interfere with visitation we can be held in contempt.  But if SD does it herself what can BM do?
Is there anything else we can do to help get this passed for SD?

We are in Alabama.

[Kitty C.]

The saying goes 'Judges won't rule against a child's feet'.  It means that if a child is determined enough to go back to the other parent often enough, a judge will rule as such.  BUT it has to be well documented, especially with the authorities.  'Every' time she leaves BM's of her own will to come to your house, you have to call the authorities and she will have to go back to BM's.  It may mean she cannot initially go back to the school in your area.  It's a crap shoot any way you look at it.  There's no way knowing how often or long it would take, if the BM would eventually cave, or if a judge would even be willing to see it that way.

As it is, since she has a year left, it probably would take longer for a formal request to go thru the court system just to ask for a change than it would for her to turn 18.  My best advice would be to talk to an atty.

[ocean]

Why can't she just stay at your school? Did it just say for one year? I would also just pay an atty for a consult and see what can be done. If he has joint everything than he should be able to sign the paper for school.
Good luck!