Can I sue my estranged husband for emotional distress??

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I live in NH. My estranged husband lives in MA. Three years ago our daughter went to live with him due to not wanting to start HS in NH. He has refused to co-parent the entire time - he ignores texts, emails and voicemail. Four months ago she threatened to kill herself and we found out she had been self harming for several months. He refuses to include me in any part of her treatment forcing me figure out how to stay in the loop and know her treatment plans, etc. We have joint legal custody & he's in contempt for refusing to communicate with me. His refusal to communicate with me has been a HUGE stressor and I spend half of MY therapy appts talking about my increased anxiety about not knowing what's going on concerning her emotional and physical health. Can I sue him for emotional distress because he's purposely ignoring me during this especially scary time with her? She'll be 18 at the end of November but can't he at least be held responsible until then? In May she told a friend she was suicidal, they told their parents and the police were called. He didn't even call me to let me know that had happened. He knows what he's doing & he could care less because she'll be 18 in 4 months

Attorney Answer

1
Andrew Piela ·
I think your better bet would be to focus on the issues with your daughter. If your daughter currently lives in MA, you would need to file an action in MA to enforce the existing parenting plan. Once your daughter reaches age 18, you may want to consider filing a guardianship action if she is unable to care for herself and is a danger to herself. Suing your husband for emotional distress in what appears to be a contested parenting case is not probably not going to be viable and more important, will do nothing to help your daughter.
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