When is it appropriate to hire an attorney for your children?

When is it appropriate to hire an attorney for your children? When your children are older, they don't have a say in where they're going to live because Oregon law says that they don't become adults until they're 18. However, courts are directed to listen to the desires of children more as they get older, as long as their desires are reasonable and aren't born out of some sort of idea that they just want to live with one parent over another. So if you have a child who is resistant to spending time with your spouse or ex spouse for some reason, that isn't just that they don't like that person, it might be helpful to have them have their own advocate. Generally with younger children who can't advocate for themselves and who can't really form a reasonably articulate why they want to be with one parent versus the other, then you would want to look at a custodial and parenting time evaluation instead.

But for older children, particularly children who feel like they want to have a voice with the court and want to be heard, but don't necessarily want to go and address the judge themselves hiring an attorney or asking for an attorney to be appointed to them, can be the best way to go about getting their voice heard.