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Hello I am the stepfather of a 15 year old boy (have been…

Customer Question

Hello I am the stepfather of...

Hello

I am the stepfather of a 15 year old boy (have been with his mum from when he was 6) who is 16 in 3 weeks time. He has a history of behavioural problems at school & at home resulting in us seeking family support from our local authority. We are currently on an intensive MST (Multisystemic therapy) program & have been for approximately 4 months with no improvement, in fact the behaviour is getting progressively worse. He has assaulted his mother twice with the police taking no action, he is consistently abusive at home, telling his mum and i to shutup & that he has no interest in anything we have to say, he swears & insults us, comes & goes from the house at will, sometimes missing for 2 or 3 days at a time. In short he is out of parental control.

The botXXXXX XXXXXne is we decided yesterday that we no longer want him in our home and informed him that the next time he left the house we would not let him back in, we also informed social services of our decision and they responded with the fact that my wife has parental responsibility for him and therefore we have to let him in or be charged with child abandonment. I must add that the primary reason we have eventually decided we do not want him at home is because we have 2 other children ages 7 & 6 who are obviously affected by his aggressive behaviour. After speaking to social services we have decided that he can continue to live with us (as i write this his school has phoned to say that he hasn’t turned up there today) until he is 16.

Which brings me to my question – I have read that if a 16 year old child decides to leave home the parents cannot force them to return but do we have a legal right to force our son out of our house when he is 16?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Steve

Submitted: 13 years ago.Category: UK Law

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Answered in 13 hours by:

3/13/2010

Solicitor: Jo C., Barrister replied 13 years ago

Jo C., Barrister

Category: UK Law

Satisfied Customers: 84,338

Experience: Over 5 years in practice.

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I imagine he has not paid rent?

Customer reply replied 13 years ago

no he is at school and has no income so does not pay rent

Solicitor: Jo C., Barrister replied 13 years ago

In that case, he has no rights in the property at all and you can ask him to leave at any time.

There may be some child neglect issues in doing that until he is 16. Thereafter, you are free to do as you wish.

If he will not leave then you can just wait until he goes out and change the locks. He is tolerated guest not a tenant.

Jo C., Barrister

Category: UK Law

Satisfied Customers: 84,338

Experience: Over 5 years in practice.

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