Custody & Kidnapping

Whether or not a parent can legally move with his/her children is a complicated legal question. It depends on a lot of different factors, and to find out for sure whether or not you may face any legal problems according to OLD STATE law if the father tries to report you, you would need to speak to a lawyer in OLD STATE who specializes in custody matters. To find a lawyer, including one who may be able to provide free or low-cost legal services, you can click here to this part of our site: LINK

I cannot specifically comment about your situation since we can’t analyze individual situations - however, I will try to provide some general, basic information that may be useful.

Do you know whether or not the father will try to object to this move. In general, if a parent objects to another parent’s move, s/he may have a couple of options. One option may be to go to court in the child’s “home state” to ask for custody or visitation of the child or to ask that the parent be ordered to return the child to the state. Another possible option may be to report the parent to law enforcement if the parent’s action violated the state’s parental kidnapping/custodial interference law. Each state’s law is slightly different in terms of what behavior is prohibited. Some states only make it illegal to move out of state in violation of a custody order. Other states may make it illegal to move even without a custody order if the parent is hiding or concealing the child from the other parent. We do have the language of STATE’s parental kidnapping law on our website here, if you want to read it - however, it is often best to get an attorney’s assessment of the law: LINK

Another factor that is often considered is how the state views an unmarried mother’s rights and unmarried father’s rights to the child. If paternity has been legally established (which can often be done via a child support order, through an affidavit of paternity, through marriage, etc.), some states’ laws assume that a mother has custody of a child born out of wedlock but other states’ laws assume both parents have equal rights. I don’t know what STATE laws say about this specifically.

In general, when there is no court permission given for a move and the child is moved to a different state, either parent may still be able to go to court in the state where the child was previously living for the past 6 months (the “home state”) to file for custody or visitation of the child. [NOTE: ONLY ADD THIS IF THERE IS NO CLEAR HOME STATE BEC THE CHILD WAS MOVED AS A NEWBORN, BEFORE 6 MONTHS OLD: In your situation, however, you said that you moved when the child was XX months old. How long have you been in your current state. Depending on how long you are in each state, if the other parent files in the prior state, you may want to talk to a lawyer to see if you have a legal argument that your current state could be the child’s “home state” for the purposes of deciding custody matters.] Depending on the situation and the state, the judge may order the child to be returned to the state during the court proceeding while deciding whether or not to allow the move. The parent who moved may also have to be present in court for the court case unless s/he gets permission to appear in court by phone. If the child and parent move, and the other parent doesn’t file anything in court for 6 months, custody/visitation petitions may need to be filed in the new state where the child is living. There may be exceptions to this general rule, however (such as if there were previous court cases regarding the child in a different state, perhaps, and other exceptions). Again, for specific advice, talking to a lawyer is best.