More details to this question:
Recently my daughters father came and lured her out in the middle of the night and took her back to Philadelphia and told me she would be staying with him all of a sudden without my knowledge. He says my daughter, 15, wants to stay with him for a year or so. Now he did not ask me could she go nor did my daughter mention to me. They arranged this as I slept....I woke up in the middle of the night with my child missing. My daughter has been in my custody her entire life tho we do have joint custody. Its my understanding that with joint custody he has to have permission to just take her and a court order to change physical custody. If you can shed some light as to what would be the best steps to resolve this and get my daughter back. The night she was taken I called the police and they said because we had joint custody they couldn't stop him from seeing her but suggested he not leave the state, VA, without a court order...but he did anyway and now refuses to bring her back.
1 ANSWER
If you have a court order, the terms of the order are controlling. Although you share joint legal custody, what does the order say with regards to custodial access? If he has the child during dates and times that are legally your days, he is in violation of the order and you need to return to court, ASAP to have a judge address this issue. You need to confer with an experienced family lawyer in your area to discuss your rights. Time is of the essence, therefore, you must take steps to protect your interest. Best of luck~
Answered on Aug 31st, 2020 at 10:54 AM