Once your divorce is finalized, you may have a hard time coping with splitting your child’s time and attention with your former spouse. But what puts this at another level of concern is if your former spouse has started concealing your child’s whereabouts, withholding your child when it is your turn in the court-ordered parenting schedule, or a worst-case scenario, abducting your child without your knowledge. If you are a part of this very serious situation, please read on to discover how parental abduction might affect your custody arrangement and how a seasoned Morristown child custody lawyer at Graves Andrews, LLC can help fight for the safety and well-being of your child and get them under your direct care.
What is defined as parental abduction?
By definition, parental abduction may occur after a divorce when one parent removes the child from the other parent without their permission or a court order. Specifically, it may involve removing the child from the state of New Jersey. Or, unlawfully withholding the child from the other parent and not revealing their exact location.
There may be several reasons why one parent may choose to abduct their child, though none of them are justifiable. For one, they may have to relocate for work and simply take it upon themselves to bring their child. Or, they may be doing it out of spite if their divorce ends badly or if they are unhappy with their ordered custody arrangement. Lastly, they may fear that their child’s other parent is dangerous or possibly a perpetrator of domestic violence; even still, abduction may be unlawful, and formal reporting with law enforcement and the courts may be necessary.
How does parental abduction affect a custody arrangement?
First things first, if you believe your child has been abducted, you must apply with the court to seek their immediate return. If the other parent does not return your child by a court-specified date, this may be labeled as an abduction. If they do not return your child at all, this may be considered a kidnapping, which you must report to your local law enforcement.
Ultimately, the other parent may face criminal charges if caught abducting your child. As far as your custody arrangement goes, you may have grounds to file a motion for a post-judgment modification. Here, you may argue that your former spouse is parentally unfit given their history of parental abduction. You may also have a slue of other reasons demonstrating their parental unfitness.
The most ideal outcome of this may be that you get sole custody over your child from here on out. Then, your former spouse may be ordered to supervised visitation, so that your child’s whereabouts can be closely monitored and another incident of abduction can be avoided at all costs.
We advise you to reach out to a competent Morristown family law attorney sooner rather than later. We are confident that you will not regret retaining the services of our team at Graves Andrews, LLC.
