Child Custody

Question: Child Custody? My husband and I live in FL. and we gained custody of my husband's 3 children from a previous marriage, due to the mother putting them around a man who was a potential danger to them. They have lived with us for well over a year now and my husband and I have a child together as well. My husband is in the military and he recently received orders for us to move to Japan. The mother can take us back to court now and try to regain custody of the children due to them move. The mother lives in GA. and only has visitation with them, my husband has full custody. Will the courts split up my family? They have lived with their half brother since he was 3 months old. Does this play a factor in the judge's decision for maybe not changing custody again back to her? Please do not respond, go to the JAG office on the base. The JAG office mainly just gives out information on Wills, etc. and we have been down that road already. Please help.

Answer: The move to Japan should be irrelevant, the Judge will decide what's best for the kids, but as far as your husband having full custody then he should be allowed to move them overseas. The military covers him in alot of ways to oversee parental rights, I wouldn't worry too much. Although it would not be a bad idea to check with attorney's around the area, there are some who offer initial consultations for free... It's not like he will be in Japan forever, all of you will return eventually. Check for Legal Advice though just to play it safe, And God's Speed to your Husband, I know what he goes through, been there and done it, with the military.. Good Luck / Semper Fi

Question: child custody? I have been planning a move for months now to another state.I have never been married and my daughters father only pays child support there is no custody order as of yet.Today one week before i am supposed to leave i was served papers for custody and visitation.He wants joint custody and joint physical custody plus the right to claim her as a dependant on taxes.he put in order i wasnt working wich i am, i sell on ebay.It is taxable.I am in iowa.we agreed when she was born every other weekend and a couple weeks in summer and i let him and his family have her whenever they like.very flexible.Alot of holidays.He is over road truck driver and rarely home his parents care for her mostly on his weekends.daughter played ball this summer he made one game out of 21.he even calls to cancel weekends.he is used to 4 days a month with her not even that sometimes.i agreed to pay for ticket to come see him reguraly before he served papers.Can i still legally move in a week?Is it considered taking her I am finding very quickly that if you do not have money and your ex does you lose in court because you have no money for legal rep(attorney)legal aid does not help in this instance.So it is gonna cost a 2000 retainer to respond to his papers.How can this be???i know he has rights but she is 7 and why wait 7 years to decide you want joint custody and to be dirty enough to do it one week before move.I have rented truck new apt.etc..in new state.Already transferred my cna status to new state and never wanted to take her from him, a agreed to pay all transportation costs before he filed papers.guess it wasnt nice enough for him offered all time she is off school.to make it worse they made sure she was visiting them when i was served with papers and i am supposed to get her monday.they have to give her back to me right????????

Answer: I agree with tweety3282001. As long as you appear for the court date, I see no reason why you can't move since it is already planned. Keep your receipts, etc in case you do need to prove, at some point, that it was planned before you were served the papers. Do the papers state that you can not move out-of-state? Before you move contact an attorney and let him handle it. In the long run it will be worth the money. Find an attorney that has a solid reputation for child custody. Good luck to you!

Question: Child custody? My brother's ex has epilepsy. She has gone off her meds twice and has had many,many seizures. Can he get full custody of his child at this point. She is putting herself and child at danger. She could have been driving w/ my neice in the backseat. What can my bro do.

Answer: She does not need to be behind the wheel of a vehicle, especially with a child in the car, I agree with you she can have a seizure and if she is not being compliant with taking her medications she is putting not only herself but this child in danger. Your brother needs to hire himself an attorney and ask for full custody of this minor child.. HE will also need evidence to prove that she is not taking her medications and endangering the child. Best of Luck

Question: How long can child custody battles last? A friend of mine is stuck in a very nasty custody battle. While if she were in a more liberal state the issue may have been resolved seeing as her ex is somewhat unfit. Unfortunately she isn't and the ex is going through great lengths to win. The child will be a year in several months and this has been going on for about 6 months already how much longer can this battle last in court. This all is happening out of state. Would it be possible for her to leave the state this is happening even temporarily without facing kidnapping charges. If so for how long.

Answer: In reality it will only end when the child reaches the age of majority, for even once you have an order established it does not mean each bio-parent is going to follow the order to a T, thereby causing a party to return back to family law court to enforce a provision, or maybe modify it depending on the facts as the child ages

Question: How would child custody laws work in this case? My two aunts got into a fight and the one pressed charges on the other on the other one so now they are going to court. The one that started it is the who charges are being pressed against and she has a child. His father is in the miltary in Afghanistan and his fathers parents live a couple of hours away. Also their is my family and my grandma who are in the town of the child. So if the childs mother went to jail who would have custody rights over the child?

Answer: My friend got divorced and was in a nasty custody battle she has also been in jail before but it was before she even had her child, it was for public intoxication, but she stopped drinking when she had her child. Her husband threatened her with it and she was scared he would get custody so she looked all over on the internet and she found this place that helped her. I remember her telling me that there was info about grandparents in there too and there rights. I just called her and got the site so here it is if it'll help. good luck

Question: Why does international child custody have noting to do with children rights only parental rights? Why does international child custody/child kidnapping have noting to do with children rights only parental rights even when a court in two different countries has given different rulings, conflict of law? Basically the mother has legal custody of her child in her country and is wanted for parental abduction in the child’s country of birth, because she is held there with out her fathers consent. Possession is 9/10 of the law.

Answer: The same applies to mothers bringing a child here in violation of a foreign order. Only one country clearly obeys the Hague Treaty, without gender bias, but their leader never signed it. His name is Castro. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Question: How is child custody handled when one parent is in one state and the parent that has allegations is in another? Does it go by: 1. The state that the mother resides in, the state that the father resides in, or the state that the divorce and child support order occured? Or is that not relevant at all? 2. Or does it go by the state in which the parent seeking full custody resides in, can that parent initiate in their state before returning a child back to their other parent at the end of their visitation if an injunction is filed? Answers with legal proof/precedent cited, no opinions, please.

Answer: its the state where the custody trial process was done in.

Question: How do I obtain full child custody in missouri if the father is completely willing to sign over his rights? I am the mother of a newborn. The father wants nothing to do with the baby and I am not requesting any child support or anything from him. Do I need to go to court to obtain full custody or can he just sign forms over since he's completely willing?

Answer: I would make sure this is absolutely what you want and make it legal, that way later on down the road he can't come back on it

Question: How do I go about getting child custody transferred? My ex is having my child and we decided it would be best if we didn't get married. We discussed what we're going to do and we decided that it would be best if I had custody of our child since I have a good paying job and I could give her everything she needs. The thing is we both have no idea where to start to transfer custody from her to me since we were never married. How soon does it have to get done? What has to be done? And how long does it usually take? The child will be born in Wisconsin by the way, I don't know if that changes anything.

Answer: You are the father, you already have the legal right to custody. Nothing needs to be done, although you might want to have a lawyer (family law) draw up a formal custody arrangement in case your admirably reasonable arrangement falls apart later.

Question: How do you file for child custody without an attorney in Broward County, FL? I need to file these papers as soon as possible. Also, my baby's father and I are not married. Also, do I need to wait for the child custody hearing to then file for child support. I am looking for full custody.

Answer: You need to file child support asap, and you can do this yourself at your local country govt. or state office. You need to give the father's info, ect. They will collect funds for you, send them to you. That is number one. Second, child support isn't like filing car ins. You need a good lawyer. There are too many variables that can arise that you need a lawyer to help you with. Don't try that on your own. Work out a payment plan with him or her, and they will tell you you will get shared custody, but you will retain sole physical custody. This means, barring any physical, alcohol, drug abuse, violent history on either side, he will get visitation rights. You can see if you can arrange supervised visits, if there is suspicion of the issues I mentioned above. It doesn't have to cost a lot. You can get this anywhere from 300.00 to thousands depending on your ability to pay and hire an atty. Do the child support tommorrow. It takes time for the papers to work through the system. They fail to pay, you have the state to help you get the funds you are to have for your kid. Its based on ability to pay, so if he isn't getting a great deal in pay from a job, you will get what they can from him. Make sure you let them know of any and all assetts he has. They will search for you for hidden ones. You do this with tax forms, ect. If he is hiding funds, they will get them for you. Good luck

Question: What problems can arise when determining child custody? I am working on a civil law assignment in class right now and I need to know possible problems that may arise during the child custody decisions.

Answer: Visitation logistics, Location of parents' homes and child's school.

Question: How much would it cost for an Attorney to write a child custody order? I found a lawyer that charges $250 an hour to handle my child custody issue. I am curious about what a lawyer charges just to complete a child custody order. Does a lawyer based the fee on the number of hours it takes to complete an child custody order?

Answer: Yeah, I would say ask around a bit. You can actually call a few lawyers..they should be able to give you an idea of the cost. I would start your search at sites like the ones below. Good Luck! http://www.socalattorneyfinder.com findlaw.com

Question: How to transfer child custody without a lawyer? My mother-in-law is giving my husbands, sister's kids back to her. She needs to know How to transfer child custody without a lawyer?

Answer: 1) Phone or go to the county courthouse. 2) Find the "Clerk of Court" office. 3) Ask the nice lady about the proper forms. 4) Fill them out and file them. I Assume there has already been some court involvement. She needs to go to that courthouse. She will also need the previous case number.She will be filing a motion to transfer custody. The clerk's office will file this (filing fee?) and a hearing date will be set. Then you appear before the judge and he makes the ruling. Oh yeah, there may be some fee for notifying the mother of the hearing date too.

Question: Child Custody of children to a father but never been married? What rights does a father have if the mother of a child(ren) did illegal drugs and the children were taken away. Then a court order gave the children to the father and the mother could have no contact unless the father was present, and she has no custody, but this was only for 2 months. There was no child support filed and the only thing that proves he cares for them is the cps paper saying he is the sole caregiver for the 2 children. What can he do to take full custody of the children?

Answer: In order to be an official custodial parent of the children he needs to go to court and request a paternity test. If the results are clear that the children are his, He can then be the official custodial parent due to the fact that the children were taken away from the mother that is if he does not have a criminal record of any sort. He will be able to take his children from where they are living and then the mother needs to pay child support. Good Luck.

Question: How exactly does child custody work when a baby is born? I'm pregnant and I don't want to deal with child custody battles, but I don't want my baby's daddy involved at all. I don't even want to put him on the birth certificate, but I don't know if he'll try to get a paternity test done... So how does all of that work? And what happens after paternity is established? Am I required to allow a paternity test?

Answer: Well, he could file for custody now, in the state where the child was conceived. In Arizona, he can take the child home from the hospital. Helped a father do that once. Hopefully, he will demand a paternity test. I suggest men do them on all children claimed to be theirs. If you don't want him involved, you have to go to court and have a judge rule on him not having parental rights, which means he doesn't pay child support. But, you cannot now, nor in the future, go on Welfare, which can override the order. I do assume it doesn't matter the damage this will do to your child? http://tinyurl.com/FatherlessConsequence… \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Question: How can I file for child custody without an attorney? How can I file for child custody without an attorney? Children are being abused and want to live with me. I cant afford an attorney but too high income for legal aid.

Answer: First, yes you can. Just get the papers. There are some paralegal services that might help. Court's also sometimes have self-help clinics. Second, call up your local bar association and see if they have an attorney reference panel. They usually set it up so you can get a consultation for a nominal fee. There is no obligation to retain the attorney you consult with. This maybe enough to get you going. Third, children will tell you what you want to hear. They will also manipulate the truth if it will give them an outcome they want. That said, abuse claims are often taken with a grain of salt by the courts. There are alot of people who hurl an abuse claim and most don't stick. You may need some back up stuff like from Child Protective Services or the children's schools, or some place, to back up such an allegation. Fourth, if the children are old enough, the court will listen to them regarding where they wish to live. Fifth, children do not like being the center of a fight. Your ex probably won't like the allegations you bring. So be careful.

Question: How can I get information on a specific child custody case? My daughter is living with an abusive man because some how he was given custody of there daughter. She has moved out 3 times but the abuse is still there. He holds there child and tells her mommy doesn't love her that's why she lives some where else.Says things like mommy is a fat ***, She's at the**** bar ... She is so miserable she just needs out. What does she have to do to get out with the child?

Answer: She needs to call, or you do, child protective services. They are there for the child first, many women are kept afraid that if the authorities come looking they will judge both and take the child away from both. In fact, they may well threaten to take the child from him for being abusive, and from her only if she is ennabling and contributing by remaining. The courts want the child with the better parent. If he is seriously abusive she should call 911, get a restraining order and have him removed. An interim order, possibly for supervised visitation rights but not permanent, could be placed pending any criminal charges. Though it is better to remove herself and the child to where he cannot find them.

Question: What documentation should I bring to court for a child custody hearing? My children's father owes a lot of money in back child support. Now he has turned the tables on me and has filed for custody of my children. I don't really know what to do from here, I just got the summons from the sheriff and I definitely don't know what to bring with me to court. The kids have always lived with me and recently he has started getting them on the weekends... Help...

Answer: ask your lawyer..... what you need..... if you don't have a lawyer.... get one.... otherwise, you may be screwed.

Question: How to write a child custody character letter? I need to write a child custody character letters for one of my friends. I was wondering if anyone knew the proper way to go about writting one. I want it to be as professional as possible. How do I address the judge? Your honor? Any example letters would be appreciated. Thank you for your help. I am not in a realtionship with the father. I am the child's godmother.

Answer: Judges are people too. Judges understand that not everyone has a law degree or a degree in writing. If professional writing is required then the friend's lawyer is your best source for information. Otherwise be polite and factual. If you are a sexual partner to your friend, it is best not to get involved. Judges see the bias of sexual partners.

Question: child custody after mothewr dies and grandmother takes to another state anf files for custody how do i get him? I've been looking for my child for about 3 years. His grandmother filed for temporary custody. I need to rebuild my relationshp with my chid and bring him back to Fl. Where do I begin?

Answer: Hire an attorney. You haven't provided anything close to enough information for anyone to be able to answer here on Answers. An attorney will be able to ask you for the necessary information and will be able to advise you on the best way to proceed.