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Name: AJR New Member   Title: Physical custody

l am in Ontario, Canada. My ex and l separated over 3 years ago with no animosity whatsoever. lt was a mutual decision, and both of us concentrated on easing the disruption of the life of our then 11 year old son. We physically separated but lived in close proximity to one another so that our son could come and go as he pleased, guilt-free - no choices. This seemed to work extremely well, as our son thrived and was happy and confident. Since then, my ex has met and moved in with his girlfriend, making our son decide for the first time on where and with whom to live. lnitially he stayed with me and his dad moved away, then he decided he would prefer to live with his dad, girlfriend and her 16 year old son. That was 7 weeks ago, and now he is telling me he wants me to get him out of there. Of course l want him to come back here to me and his hometown, his friends and his regular school, so l need advice on how to proceed. Ex and l never had any custody agreement of any kind as we agreed we would let our son decide. Son is saying that dad "flipped" and girlfriend was threatening when he mentioned he wanted to come home. The advice l need is - can l go pick up son for a visit and not take him home, because neither one of us has legal custody, but dad has had physical custody for the past 7 weeks? Do l have to seek legal custody beforehand?
Any advice outside of those questions would also be gratefully welcomed.
Thanks, AJ.

Name: AJR New Member

l'm answering my own post - my son is now very happy to be home, back in his own school with all his friends.