Children are generally not permitted to express which parent they want to live with, as the court system discourage putting the children in the middle of a custody fight. Obviously, as indicated above, children older than eleven (11) are permitted, by law, to exercise the right to speak their minds. A judge might be willing to listen to a younger child, but probably not younger than eight (8) or nine (9). This can create problems in a custody fight, in that a parent may want to testify about what the parent’s child has told them, but the court won’t permit them to do so, since this is inadmissible "hearsay," unless the judge has also agreed (or is required) to listen to the child’s testimony.

George also has something called a "minor election." In Georgia, when a child turns fourteen (14 ), children have presumptive right to declare with which parent he/she wishes to primarily live. The law has recently changed from this being a veto right to only being a presumption. This change should make it harder for custody to be changed, merely because of the maturity of the child. Now, this presumptive right is still subsumed by the overall standard for custody decisions, e.g., "best interests of the child."