Washington Child Custody Legal Questions

Richard, you can request the court to issue a Temporary Custody. But your situation needs to be evaluated by an attorney. There is a possibility that you would need to retain an attorney and if you can not afford an attorney, you can represent yourself in court. Feel free to contact my office and speak with a case manager at 877-866-8665 or email help@smsattorneys.com for clarification.... Read Answer

Anthony, Fathers Rights are protected in every state of America. What you need to do is, get a lawyer or start the paperwork yourself using a Family Law Specialist to request Joint Custody of your daughter. By doing so, you will be able to establish your rights, and the court will than enforce Fathers Rights such as equal time with the child. If you require additional information, feel free to contact my office and speak with a case manager at 877-866-8665 or email help@smsattorneys.com for clarification.... Read Answer

Sorry to hear what you are going through, David. Dealing with CPS, ACS, DHS, any child services agencies is a nightmare especially when one parent has a history with them. Any future children she has will be subject to being taken at the discretion of the agencies unless she turns her case and life around. As far as you are concerned, are you listed on the child birth-certificate? If so you can get the child back from them as long as the child mother, does not have any contact with the child and or be around the child while they have an open case against her. You don't need to waste your time in thinking about constitutional rights, civil or etc. I understand your emotions, but you have to understand the situation with the child mother. Your best possible action, for now, would be to get an aggressive and competent lawyer like my firm that specializes in Child Custody and Agencies to represent and assist you.  Please keep in mind that not all lawyers are the same, therefore be very cautious as to which attorney or law firm you chose to work with. We are based in New York but my network of SMS ATTORNEYS does travel out of state for clients. 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 plans 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 WA.... Read Answer

Prohibiting a parent from contacting communicating with his or her children is not fair. As long as she is not life threatening towards the children you guys should allow her to see the children. The part about children being alone with her needs to be modified based on the facts you have provided. This can be done through modification petition in court. So you will ask the judge to grant her supervised parenting time that she will stick with. Instead of giving her a flexible schedule give her a limited fixed schedules that you know and think that she wouldn’t be able to miss. You guys can try to be flexible with her this year if after doing what I suggested does not improve the situation and or it gets worsen you guys can take more stricter measures to cancel parenting time until she seeks help. I would love to work with you guys on this case. Feel free to review my profile to learn a bit more about myself, I usually travel states to states on a case by case based. If you would like to work with me I would be happy to. Reach out via the contact form to tell me more about the case via phone.... Read Answer

Generally, an adoption can be reversed after it has been finalized by petition to the court by either the birth or the adoptive parents. The laws about when this can be done and the circumstances required for the court to allow a reversal (usually called a vacation or annulment) of the adoption are quite strict. If an adoption is reversed, the adoptee's (child's) birth certificate will be changed back to the way it originally read. Usually the courts will look at the best interest of the child meaning, the court will revoke consent if the court finds that the child?s best interests are not served by the adoption.... Read Answer

Generally a DNA test would be a way to determine who a biological parent is. It may be difficult for one to use the law in order to find out this information. In regard to parental claim, In Missouri a minor can become emancipated from a parent or legal guardian in one of three ways: 1. Your parents give their express consent to the court to terminate their parental rights; 2. Your parents give their implied consent by permitting you to live on your own, support yourself, and have already effectively given up their parental rights; or 3. You have married or enlisted in the military. Emancipation is typically not available to minors under the age of sixteen. As a practical matter. Communication of information by, in, to or through this Web site and your receipt or use of it (1) is not provided in the course of and does not create or constitute an attorney-client relationship, (2) is not intended as a solicitation, (3) is not intended to convey or constitute legal advice, and (4) is not a substitute for obtaining legal advice from a qualified attorney. You should not act upon any such information without first seeking qualified professional counsel on your specific matter. The hiring of an attorney is an important decision that should not be based solely upon Web site communications or advertisements.... Read Answer

The child is not legally yours until you have established a parenting plan if you were not married to the mother. Therefore you should file a petition to establish the parenting plan. It's not at all clear that the person who currently has the child was appointed by the court or just given the child by the mother.... Read Answer

Generally, a parent cannot give up or sign over their parental rights to their own child unless a legal adoption has taken place and both parents were parties to the legal action. In Missouri, a biological father or mother can usually file a paternity action in order to have a custody order in place. Unmarried fathers in Missouri usually need to file a paternity action to ensure their custody rights are protected. Free paternity testing may be obtained through Family Support Division.... Read Answer

Yes. Both parties have to agree to a continuance or you or your attorney have to be there. Get an attorney and have her/him show up and get the continuance based on your inability to work with him/her because of your medical condition. Then after the baby is born, you can address the issue. It's also quite possible for you to work with the attorney on a response, in which case you don't have to be in court; the attorney can be there.... Read Answer

Unless you had a court order giving you custody, CPS was free to take the child. It sounds like all you had was something from the parents, which is worth little more than the paper it's written on. You don't say why there was an investigation in the first place. You could go to court to ask for third party custody based on the fact that the child was with you for 5 years. This is what should have happened in the first place. In addition, there is the fact that family care providers are preferred under the law.... Read Answer

No. Only a court can take them away or he can voluntarily relinquish is the context of an adoption. Once you get remarried, if your new husband wants to adopt them, he can file a petition for adoption and the relinquishment would be part of the process. At that point, the father's duty of support would end. Until then, if he doesn't want to see the kids, don't worry about it. It gives the court more reason to take away his parental rights. Meanwhile, you should still be getting child support.... Read Answer

Generally, the best group you would want to reach out to for this is the Family Support Division. The Family Support Division can help you or your family with food stamps, health care, child care, child support, and other needs. Here is a link to their page https://dss.mo.gov/fsd/ Communication of information by, in, to or through this Web site and your receipt or use of it (1) is not provided in the course of and does not create or constitute an attorney-client relationship, (2) is not intended as a solicitation, (3) is not intended to convey or constitute legal advice, and (4) is not a substitute for obtaining legal advice from a qualified attorney. You should not act upon any such information without first seeking qualified professional counsel on your specific matter.... Read Answer

The problem with your long tale is that it gives no meaningful information. One can't just sign one's rights away. What is the name of the document you signed and did a judge sign it? Who gave your parents guardianship? Only a court can do that. Yes, you need to see a lawyer and provide all of the significant documents. You may be in a position to get your son, but it will have to be through an appropriate legal process.... Read Answer

If you have a parenting plan or other legal order allowing you to see the child at certain times, you can file a motion for contempt and ask the court to give you make up time and enforce the order. If you have no order, you need to go to court and file a parenting plan action to establish your right to see her.... Read Answer

If you have not started divorce proceedings your husband has no duty of support. You don't say if you're separated. You need to file for the divorce and then give notice of relocation. If you move when nothing is before the court, the father can file to have you return the child. Of course, if he's moving to another state, he's not likely to do that. You need to provide a clearer picture of what's going on to get a full answer to your question.... Read Answer

As long as a child is in high school (up to the age of 21) a parent has to pay support. Clearly, if she is enrolled part time the school must allow that. There are many high school programs that are geared at giving students some work experience by reducing their course load and requiring them to work part time.The fact that a child is working part time does not impact the support obligation.... Read Answer