Arkansas Family Legal Questions

If you are still married, just separated for a long time, you both have equal rights of custody. If you are divorced and have a Court Order awarding you primary custody of your daughter, I do not understand how the school allowed him to enroll her.  If there has been a petition for order of protection and an order of protection has been entered restraining you from having contact with your daughter, you must obey that order until the matter is taken up in Court. Disobeying an Order of Protection may result in your arrest. If there has never been a court order entered establishing custody, you and the father are now likely to be looking at joint custody as that is now the legal preference in Arkansas. Unless you can prove by clear and convincing evidence that joint custody is not in your daughter's best interests, the Court will award joint custody.... Read More

  Per Ark. Code Ann. 9-15-201 of the Domestic Abuse Act, a petition for protective order can be filed by: A petition may be filed by: (1) Any adult family or household member on behalf of himself or herself; (2) Any adult family or household member on behalf of another family or household member who is a minor, including a married minor; (3) Any adult family or household member on behalf of another family or household member who has been adjudicated an incompetent; or (4) An employee or volunteer of a domestic-violence shelter or program on behalf of a minor, including a married minor. "Household members", as defined in Ark. Code Ann. 9-15-103 of the Domestic Abuse Act, includes: “Family or household members” means spouses, former spouses, parents and children, persons related by blood within the fourth degree of consanguinity, in-laws, any children residing in the household, persons who presently or in the past have resided or cohabited together, persons who have or have had a child in common, and persons who are presently or in the past have been in a dating relationship together." Step mom may qualify to fit in category 2 as a person who can apply for a protective order as "any adult family or household member on behalf of another family or household member who is a minor. " The more appropriate person to file would definetely be a parent on behalf of their own child, in my opinion, but she may be able to proceed as a household member filing on behalf of a household member as a minor.  This is not the anwer you are looking for but this is the most accurate reading of the law.... Read More

How long its been since he took the child? You should contact law enforcement if its an emergency and you believe your child may be in danger. Please consult with an attorney if you have custody granted through court. You might have to file a petition to get the child back in an emergency manner. Please keep in mind that not all lawyers are same. Therefore be very cautious as to which attorney or law firm you chose to work with. We are based in New York City but my network of SMS ATTORNEYS does travel out of state for complex cases and at client request. If you would like to retain our services while on a limited budget, do let us know and we will try to do our best to offer payment plan option. Feel free to give us a call for a free consultation. Ahsan Syed answer and comments to questions are for general purposes only and do not constitute legal advice or establish an attorney-client relationship with SMS ATTORNEYS without a signed retainer. Thank You. Toll-Free 1-877-866-8665 // Child Custody Lawyer in Arizona.... Read More

If you deem it necessary, you can ask the Court to modify conditions of visitation so that it is supervised. It is not clear from your question which parent has primary custody. If it is wife, this may be a time to ask for a change of primary custody. What you have done so far is good. You will have to decide whether you need to do more. I understand you do not want your kids in a hostile environment.... Read More

Why are the children in DHS custody? If the natural parents of the children have been determined unfit by a Court, then you should intervene in the DHS case. If your are "qualified and suitable" to act as guardian of the children then you may be granted that status. The law does provide for a family member to have preferred status in such acase but the ultimate question is what is in the childrens' best interest.... Read More

I do not think that you must reveal the father's name. However, there is some caselaw in Arkansas that suggests that a biological father can have his child's birth certificate reflect the father's surname. If you wish to seek support of the father, you would likely be better off revealing his name to the hospital or put his name on the putative father registry.... Read More

Stepparents are a parental figure in one or both of the child's parents home.  While there is no statute of which I am aware that prohibits a stepparent from disciplining a child, it has been my experience over the last 22 plus years that a stepparent disciplining a child, especially physical discipline, is the quickest way for the stepparent's spouse to end up back in Court wherein allegations or abuse are made, is likewise the quickest way for a report to the Arkansas Abuse Hotline to be made by the other parent and the quickest way for a police report to be made.  I strongly suggest no physical discipline by the stepparent under any circumstances.  As far as "time out" or "removing privileges" if the situation calls for it, and the parent is not at home to handle the situation, do what you've got to do if a child has crossed a household boundary.  The parent needs to be the disciplinarian, not a stepparent, so I will reiterate that any discipline needs to be handled by the parent unless they are not present.... Read More

To modify custody you must prove there has been a material change in circumstances (in regard to the children's situation) since the entry of the last order in your case and that it is in the children's best interests for custody to be changed. This can be a pretty heavy burden of proof but you can use things like having an attorney ad litem appointed to represent the children's best interests look into the allegations or asking the Court to appoint psychologist to conduct interviews and possibly administer psychological evaluations. Before a Court is going to change custody they have to be convinced the children's situation is serious and detrimental to them.... Read More

A Court Order remains in place until it is changed. The person who had guardianship before the prison release likely still has guardianship unless Order was set to automatically dismiss upon release from prison. I would need to see the paperwork to be certain. It can be located at Courthouse where it was entered. Kimberly Canova... Read More

In practice in PA so you need to consult with an AZ lawyer. My opinion would be that whether or not your sister in law takes your brother's share would be decided by what the will says about when  a child predeceases mom. You reference a "Family Agreement" and not a will. In my state, there is no document called a Family Agreement that is substitute for a will. In my state it would be what the will says, testacy, orif no will exists, intestacy. Intestacy would result in brother's children getting his share. If he has no children, then the gift would lapse and go back to you and any other siblings. I would look carefully at what this Family Agreement says about an heir preeceasing mom.... Read More