my husband and i are wanting to get custody of a 16 yr old relative, mother is deceased, dad has never been in the picture...he's currently in the custody of other relatives. however, the minor child wishes to live with us. we are going to ask them to sign over custody to us, but if they say no, i need to know what to do within the courts to gain custody of this child. i believe the child is old enough to tell the judge where they want to live, and has told us he will stand up and tell the judge he chooses us. HELP!, we really don't know where to start, and have put much thought into this, we are not approaching the subject lightly, but there's a 99% chance that the other family members are going to tell us no way, and no longer allow the child to spend time with us once we approach them, so i need to everythign prepared ahead of time for the next step. thanks!