Recently I have had this question on at least three different times. Why can't we subpoena my children to be in court and force them to testify? The asnwer is, we can subpoena them to be in court. But, it is up to the judge as to whether they will take the stand and testify or not. The Kansas Court of Appeals decided this very issue in a September, 2004 opinion, In re Marriage of Allen. The three judge panel held that in child custody matters, the trial court may refuse to compel the testimony of the child in open court if the child would be under such pressure that the veracity of the testimony might be suspect. Further, in cases such as this one, the child's testimony would be cumulative to other evidence received and might be harmful to the child.
However, there is another way. By taking advantage of K.S.A. 60-1614, you can ask the judge to interview the child in chambers. The child would have the opportunity to discuss the matter with the judge while avoiding the psychological trauma of choosing one parent over the other parent inopen court.
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