<p>Any suggested remedy?</p>
<p>Prep school on these boards accepted a boarding application from a parent who had joint legal custody, but not physical custody. Parent dangled acceptance in front of angry teen. Surprise! teen wants to dump custodial parent and go to boarding school. </p>
<p>What generally arte prep school policies on boarding applications from divorced parents?</p>
<p>Did the student go on interviews? Take tests? Then the custodial parent must have known about the application process? If it was a prep school that didnt require all that, then it must not be a good one. If its a joint legal custody, must the other parent contribute the cost? It seems to me, schools ask for both parents signatures…</p>
<p>I would check with a family law lawyer on whether non-custodial parent has the power to do this.</p>
<p>Student started as a day student.</p>
<p>Although technically non-custodial parent can not do this, when in doubt courts opt for boarding school and remove the kid from a good home if the school says yes and the kid wants to go. Talk about a legal slippery slope.</p>
<p>I’m just amazed that the boarding schools would take the risk. </p>
<p>And puts at risk every divorced day student family.</p>
<p>Why should the BS be responsible for policing this? They accept the student. After that, if one parent has a problem, isn’t this a legal issue outside the domain of the school?</p>
<p>^^ Agreed with above. Honestly If i’m the school and I knew about this I wouldn’t even bother getting involved.</p>
<p>It would make a financial problem with the school. The custodial parent is not responsible for bill…</p>
<p>This depends upon the states involved, doesn’t it? If I were the parent with physical custody, I’d be worried and angry. However, the child is now a teenager. He (or she) is at least 14. If he’s been a day student at the same boarding school, he’s probably over 15. It’s not a change of custody, only a change of housing for school. </p>
<p>If it went before a judge, I don’t think the parent with physical custody would win. (I am not a lawyer, etc.) To apply for a change of status, the student had to have agreed, no matter what the parent-with-physical-custody (can we say, “mom,” at that’s most likely?) wants to believe. </p>
<p>The stereotype of boarding schools is, that they’re a haven for kids from hmm, families with multiple trophy wives in succession, and/or families which are going through divorces. That’s a stereotype, but it has some grounding in reality. I know families which have found that their children value the greater stability and freedom a boarding school allows. </p>
<p>Judges in custody cases see a wide range of family situations. In comparison to a family filing a child-in-need-of-services petition, I’d think that a family feuding over where the child will sleep during term doesn’t really compare in urgency. Also, this teenager is very close to an age at which he can decide where he will go, and with whom he will live–and neither parent can gainsay him at that point.</p>
<p>If I were the parent-with-physical-custody, I would think very long and hard about challenging this decision.</p>