At what age can a child decide who he lives with?

The age of 12 is often considered the point when the opinion of a child may have any true legal bearing. This is not automatically when a child may decide who he lives with; it is the age when he will begin to have a say, reports Gary Direnfeld.

Mr. Direnfeld further reports that there are situations where parents engage their child in an attempt to sway the outcome of a decision with the child's opinion. There are other situations where children wish to have their opinion heard of their own accord. Parents involved in divorce, separation, custody and access proceedings often have questions about the age when a child may decide which parent they live with as do the children themselves.