Number 6 on the list of 16 things Pennsylvania looks at for custody decisions: a child’s relationship with their siblings.
Can someone explain what this actually means in court? What kind of sibling relationships do they consider important?
It feels a little vague, and I’m trying to put together a case to get primary custody using these factors.
Basically, if the child has siblings, the court wants to keep those relationships strong—if it makes sense to do so.
I’m in PA, and my husband’s kids were separated. His daughter (my stepdaughter) was terrified of her brother. After a custody evaluation, they were split up at 13 and 15. My husband got full custody of his daughter, and her brother stayed with their mom. They were supposed to see each other on weekends, but after one bad weekend at their mom’s, my stepdaughter refused to go back. She said she wasn’t being protected there. My husband ended up with 100% custody of her, and he gave up custody of his son to keep her safe.
It got really bad—his son accused us of abuse, but when the caseworker told him it was impossible (he wasn’t even with us that day), he threatened to kill my husband.
Now, they have no relationship at all. My stepdaughter is so scared of him that she even changed schools so she wouldn’t run into him.
I think it means that when they decide custody, they look at whether the child has siblings and what kind of relationship they have.
Siblings are usually a big part of a child’s life, so separating them could really hurt their emotional development. If the siblings are close, the court will probably try to keep them together as much as possible.
I guess it depends on the state, but I didn’t have anything like this come up in my custody case.
My kids were only full siblings, so there was never a question of them being separated. Later on, their dad remarried and had two daughters with his second wife. My kids never really bonded with them since they were much younger. My son, especially, never saw them as real siblings because they barely spent time together.
@Francis
This is actually a PA-specific law. It says the court has to consider sibling relationships in custody decisions.
Uriella said:
@Francis
This is actually a PA-specific law. It says the court has to consider sibling relationships in custody decisions.
Oh, I see! That makes sense. I hadn’t heard of that before.
I think it wouldn’t have applied in my case anyway because my kids were so much older than their half-siblings. By the time the younger ones were old enough to form a bond, my daughter was already in college, and my son was almost out of the house too.
This can get really complicated, especially in cases where a parent has kids from different relationships.
For example, if a mother has kids from a previous relationship and then has a child with a new partner, and she passes away, the court might give custody or visitation rights to the new partner because of the child’s relationship with their half-sibling.
This is why people need to be really careful about who they have kids with after a divorce.
Usually, the idea is not to split up half-siblings.
So if a mom has another child with a different dad, the court might try to keep those siblings together as much as possible.
Claudia said:
Usually, the idea is not to split up half-siblings.
So if a mom has another child with a different dad, the court might try to keep those siblings together as much as possible.
Huh, that might explain why my ex was so upset when I told my family I’m having another baby and didn’t tell him.
I figured it’s the same as when he got engaged and didn’t tell me. 
It just means that if a child has siblings, the court looks at how changing custody would affect those relationships.
If the child has a strong bond with their siblings, they might try to keep them together or make sure they still spend time together.
Does the child have full siblings? Would they all have the same custody schedule? What about half-siblings on the mom’s side or dad’s side? Would changing custody make the child spend more or less time with those siblings, and would that be good or bad for them?
@Denver
Not always.
Can someone list all 16 factors?
Wright said:
Can someone list all 16 factors?
@FamilyLawFred
Thanks!