Q: If I have just been granted sole legal and physical custody of my children how do I get them?
A bench warrant has been issued for my child’s mother for not showing up to any of our court dates and I have just been granted sole legal and physical custody of both our children. She currently has my children and I don’t know where they live. Can I contact her myself and show her that I have sole custody of my kids and try to get them or do I wait for her to be arrested?
A: The best approach would be to try to do this without the police and contact her. She may not have been served with the order so see what you can do to get it into her possession. I suggest that you not be too aggressive or threatening about it. In the least, try to find out where the children are. If they're of school age I should thing they'd be in school. If she won't cooperate but you can find out where she and they are, you can try to get the police department where she lives to assist you in recovering the children but fair warning, they're not going to break the doors down or arrest her. If none of this works, you'll have to go back to the court to obtain another order, authorizing the police to take less passive action. You really should consider consulting an experienced family law attorney for this situation.
A:
Contact the court's Sheriff's Department and give them whatever contact information you have for her -- esp. if you can find an address for her. Give them her social media accounts too, if any. Ideally, you coordinate things with the Sheriff and/or the local police so that you're present when she's arrested . . . and then you can get your kids at that time. Believe me, the police will be more than happy to have someone on hand to collect the children.
Best of luck to you.
Justia Ask a Lawyer is a forum for consumers to get answers to basic legal questions. Any information sent through Justia Ask a Lawyer is not secure and is done so on a non-confidential basis only.
The use of this website to ask questions or receive answers does not create an attorney–client relationship between you and Justia, or between you and any attorney who receives your information or responds to your questions, nor is it intended to create such a relationship. Additionally, no responses on this forum constitute legal advice, which must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. You should not act upon information provided in Justia Ask a Lawyer without seeking professional counsel from an attorney admitted or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. Justia assumes no responsibility to any person who relies on information contained on or received through this site and disclaims all liability in respect to such information.
Justia cannot guarantee that the information on this website (including any legal information provided by an attorney through this service) is accurate, complete, or up-to-date. While we intend to make every attempt to keep the information on this site current, the owners of and contributors to this site make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to from this site.
