QUESTION
Can I keep my son away from his father if he has warrants?
Asked on Nov 02nd, 2016 on Child Custody - Washington
More details to this question:
My ex and I have an almost two year old. We have a parenting plan already in place that he gets our son three weekends out of the month. I am the sole parent for our son. Shortly after I had agreed to three weekends, the dad started to slip up and when it came to his weekends, I get a call from his girlfriend saying that he’s left with her car, he’s stolen money from her and then the next weekend she calls and he’s in jail for domestic violence. I kept our son for the month of July and in August. He contacted me three times asking to see our son. I did tell him no because I feared our son’s safety. He came back and I still don’t know if he’s capable of being around our son. Also, his father has two warrants out for his arrest. I don’t want to lose my son. What should I do? How should I handle this? Maybe go to court go and modify the parenting plan?
1 ANSWER
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You are not the sole parent of the child. There is a parenting plan, which means he is the legal father. First, if there is a domestic violence protection order you may be able to get a restraining order limiting his access to the child to supervised visitation. Everything else you talked about is not a basis to limit access as they are not violent crimes. His father can not have warrants out, only the court can issue warrants. It's also not clear from what you said if the warrants are against the child's father or grandfather. In either case, whether or not this has an impact on the child depends on the underlying reason for the warrant. If it's not a violent crime, it's irrelevant. I suggest you see a lawyer and get some help figuring out what, if any, danger there is to the child and if there is a basis to limit access.By not allowing him to see the child during the time allocated to him under the parenting plan, you have given him a basis to file a motion for contempt.
Answered on Dec 07th, 2016 at 5:19 AM