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EspañolI am afraid the other parent will move our children out of the state. What can I do?
If you are afraid that the other parent will relocate your children without your consent, you might be able to ask the judge to issue an emergency custody order that says the other parent cannot take the children out of the state, or that the other parent may only have supervised visitation. Please see Can I get temporary emergency custody? for more information as to what factors a judge might consider when deciding whether or not to grant emergency custody. You can also go to the Custody section of your state for more information.
If you have reason to believe that the other parent may try to hide the children from you, you could ask the judge to order the other parent to deposit money with the court (post a bond) that would cover the cost of having to try to locate and get your children back if they were taken. If you already have a custody order, you may be able to file to change (modify) the order to include this.
If the other parent takes my children out of state, can s/he be charged with kidnapping?
The answer to this question is very complicated and may depend on many different factors. The criminal laws on parental kidnapping, also known as custodial interference, child concealment, or parental abduction, are different in each state. In some states, it may be against the law to take children out of state only if it violates a custody order or if there is an active custody case pending. In other states, the act of taking the children out of state itself may not be illegal unless the parent hides (conceals) the children from the other parent. Other factors that may be considered are whether the parents are married and considered to have equal parental rights or, in the case of unmarried parents, whether the father’s paternity has been legally established. Also, there could be a big difference if the other parent is planning a brief visit out of state or if s/he is planning on moving out of state for a long time.
We strongly suggest talking to a lawyer who specializes in custody matters or a prosecutor to find out if the other parent’s actions are legal or not. See our Finding a Lawyer page for information about resources in your state.
How can I keep the other parent from taking my children out of the country?
You may want to immediately contact a lawyer who can help you figure out what you can do to try to prevent your children being brought outside of the United States. For a list of legal resources, please see our Finding a Lawyer page.
If you can convince a judge that your concerns are “reasonable” based on the facts, you may be able to get the court to intervene. If you are seeking custody of your children, you can ask the judge to include a provision that the non-custodial parent is not allowed to travel with your child out of the country.
If the judge specifically includes language in an order that the child cannot be removed from the U.S., you can enroll in the federal government’s Prevent Abduction Program, which would create a “travel alert” to prevent the child from boarding a flight.1
If you think that the other parent may try to flee with your child out of the country, you could ask the court to hold your child’s passport, and even possibly the other parent’s passport, so the child cannot leave the country. If your child does not have a passport yet, you may be able to register for the Children’s Passport Issuance Alert Program from the U.S. State Department, which provides the following service:
“Parents may register their U.S. citizen children under the age of 18 in the Children’s Passport Issuance Alert Program (CPIAP), one of the Department of State’s most important tools for preventing international parental child abduction. If a passport application is submitted for a child who is registered in CPIAP, the Department alerts the parent or parents. This program provides parents advance warning of possible plans for international travel with the child.”
1 See the U.S. State Department website
