English
EspañolV filed for custody; asks if she can keep her kids away from the father while awaiting court date
I assume from your email that you have filed for custody or your children and that you were given a court date that is weeks or months away - and you are asking if you can refuse to let the father see the children until that court date. In sum, I cannot give you a “yes” or “no” answer as to whether or not the law would allow you to keep your children from the other parent but I will raise a few issues that may be ones to consider when you are making a decision as to what you would like to do. In general, parents can decide who a child sees on a daily basis.
If a parent believes that a child would be in danger with the other parent or that it’s not in the child’s best interests to see the parent, it may be within the parent’s right to not send the child for visitation. However, in most states, when paternity has been legally established, the state may assume both parents to have equal rights to a child and so either parent can legally have the child with him/her. If parents cannot agree on a visitation arrangement and one parent is refusing access, the other parent may sometimes try to take the child anyway if the child is at school or another location where the parent can access the child - and then that parent may be within his/her rights to keep the child with him/her and deny access just as the other parent did. One way that a parent may be able to legally keep another parent away from a child is through a protection order, if the child qualifies for one or if the parent is abused and gets an order for himself/herself and includes the child as an additional protected party. Here is some information on protection orders in your state: LINK
Some other factors that a parent may want to consider when refusing the other parent access is whether or not the actions would reflect poorly in a future custody case and/or whether the state’s custodial interference law might be violated if a child’s location is being concealed. You may want to talk to a lawyer in your state who specializes in custody matters for advice on all of this. Here is a link for lawyers, some of which may be free or low-cost:LINK And here is some information about custody proceedings in your state for additional information: LINK
