Custody & Kidnapping

As a first step, your [FRIEND, SISTER, ETC.] may want to talk to an attorney to find out whether what [ENTER HIS OR HER] spouse is doing is against the law or not. In general, if people are legally married, most states consider the parents to have equal rights to the child so that either parent may be able to have the child in his/her possession. However, many states also have parental kidnapping/custodial interference laws that apply to married couples as well as unmarried couples that may prohibit certain behaviors such as concealing the whereabouts of the child, or relocating a child out of state, for example). We have the definition of the crime that deals with custodial interference/parental kidnapping on our website here: STUDENT, GO TO THE CRIMES PAGE, LOOK FOR A CRIME CALLED ‘CUSTODIAL INTERFERENCE’ OR SOMETHING SIMILAR, CLICK ON IT, AND THEN PUT THE LINK FROM THE ACTUAL STATUTE HERE. However, these types of laws are often hard to interpret and easy to misinterpret. Since I cannot provide legal advice, I cannot tell you how it may or may not apply to [ENTER HIS OR HER] situation. Therefore, you or [ENTER SHE OR HE] may want to ask an attorney if based on the law, the other parent’s behavior may possibly be illegal under the state’s parental kidnapping laws. Here is a link with contact information for free legal services and private lawyers: LINK.

[INCLUDE THIS IF IT SEEMS THAT THE PARENT IS MOVING/RELOCATING WITH THE CHILD, AS OPPOSED TO GOING ON A BRIEF TRIP: When a parent moves a child away against the other parent’s wishes, it is possible that filing for custody can help to get the child to return to the state where s/he was living previously. Here is a link to our custody page with more information about filing for custody: LINK. In addition, under certain circumstances, when filing for custody, a parent may be able to ask for an immediate temporary custody order while the case is pending and while awaiting the return court date. In some states, this type of ex parte immediate temporary custody order may only be granted if the child is in danger but this is not the case in all states. A parent who is considering asking for temporary immediate custody may want to ask a lawyer what the legal standard is in his/her state and whether it is necessary to prove that the child is in danger or not. Also, in some states, there is a separate form/petition to file to indicate that the parent is asking for an ex parte immediate temporary custody order. Hopefully, the court clerk can let your [INSERT FRIEND, SISTER, ETC.] know what would need to be filed if [ENTER SHE OR HE] chooses to request this.

In addition, one thing that I wanted to mention is that when filing for custody, generally the parent would file in the state where the child most recently lived for six months (the child’s “home state”). Therefore, even if a parent has moved a child out of state, but the child has not lived in that new state for six months, custody petitions would still be filed in the former state where the child lived. Once a petition is filed and served upon the parent who left, it’s possible that the judge could make the other parent return to the child’s “home state” immediately or by the next court date and the parent can be ordered to remain in the state while the custody case is pending.

[ADD THIS IF THE LEFT-BEHIND PARENT SEEMS TO BE A DV VICTIM: If the parent filing for custody was being abused, s/he may also decide to apply for a protection order, which may possibly allow for temporary custody. Here is more information on protection orders in STATE so you can see if you may qualify and whether your state allows a protection order to include temporary custody.]