FAMILY LAW ARTICLES

Responding to a parental child abduction

While divorcing individuals may hope that, after their divorce, their ex will be respectful of their rights, this sadly doesn’t always happen. Now, experiencing any violation of the rights granted to them in a divorce can be very distressing for a person. However, few can fill a person with fear and worry the way violation of their custodial rights regarding their kids can.

One way such a violation can come about is when a noncustodial parent abducts a child. When such an abduction occurs, a custodial parent may have all sorts of major worries. This includes worries about:

• The safety and well-being of their child.
• Whether their ex will take some further rash action, like trying to take the child out of the state or out of the country.
• Whether they will be able to get their child back before anything bad happens.
• Whether, once they get their child back, their ex will just try to take the child again.

Now, there are legal steps that custodial parents can generally take in response to a parental abduction to try to address such pressing worries. This includes measures aimed at addressing the current situation and measures aimed at helping to prevent similar situations from arising in the future. These steps can have many complex aspects. Also, they can be very time-sensitive in nature. So, how quickly and carefully a parent proceeds when pursuing these steps can have major implications.

Our firm is knowledgeable of the complex legal issues that can come up when responding to parental child abductions. We also understand the very high level of stakes these very emotional situations involve. We are committed to helping custodial parents respond decisively and quickly when their custodial rights have been violated by a parental child abduction or other misconduct by their ex.