Custody.

If there has been no court order - interim or final as regards giving custody to wife - there is no legal impediment in daughter staying with you and completing education there. 

Even if she has been staying with wife for the past three years and is coming to me after three years?

Generic Analysis

1. Parents are separated/divorced.

2. Child is 10 years old. Past three years, the child has been living with Mother.

3. Mother appears to be a co-operative co-parent and the custodial parent ( CP ). CP is sending the child to visit the father.

4. There appears to be lack of mutual understanding or court orders on the return of the child following visitation

5. Father has filed for custody in his state and wants to swing/convert the child visitation into residential time and change his status from NCP Non Custodial Parent to Custodial Parent.

Questions.

1. Was there any contact between the father and the child in the past three years ? 

2. If no, then why. If yes, then what type of contact - phone/email/visitation ? 

3. What are the drawbacks, if any in the child returning back to the mother after the visitation ? 

4. What are the advantages for the child in continuing schooling at the fathers state versus mothers state. 

5. Child is being uprooted from her previous school to a new environment - what are the pros and cons of this change for the child.

6. What support system does the father have in his state ? What support system is there in place currently for the child in the mothers state. 

7. What plans or arrangements does the father have in continuing the childs relationship with the mother, should the childs education be terminated in the mothers state and restarted at the fathers state.

8. What is the travel time/distance between the mother and father ? 

9. Which party is financially and socially stable- father or mother. Who has more resources ? 

Scenario/Discussion

I think in the given situation, there are three possible scenarios the father must consider.Understand the pros and cons of each and then make a educated move. 

A. Father does not return child- enrolls child in fathers state.

This may enrage the mother and her relatives. The child may have bonded with the mother and other friends and relatives over a period of three years. 

B. Father returns child - starts a civil - direct and peaceful discussion with mother for moving child to fathers state.

This approach may still enrage the mother or her relatives but will provide an oppurtunity for consultative decision making. Father can provide tangible evidence of advantages to the childs health, welfare and education should the childs education be continued at fathers state. Father could also, in the same engagement indicate that he will provide full visitation, full contact with the child and not frustrate contact or visitation.

C. Father obtains court orders to move the child to fathers state and continue education. Court orders visitation to the mother. 

Legal danda may not only enrage but possibly open up new avenues of threat to the fathers life/limb/property.The mother and her relatives may see this as a "lost battle" and react in other ways, which indirectly may harm the child and her relationships.

The floor is open for critic, comments and legal review to assist the petitioner.