Child custody

My bofriend's sister was recently stationed in Japan with the Air Force. While there, her husband abused her. They have a 10 month old son.

Her husband was arrested on base and sent back to the U.S. where he now resides in Texas. He wants custody of their son. They will be going to court within the next two weeks.

The wife is currently in Los Angeles for training right now and has their son. The husband has threatened to take their son away from her.

Due to caution, the wife has called her brother (my boyfriend) and asked him to fly to Los Angeles this weekend and pick up the baby and take the baby to some relatives in Oregon.

If her brother picks up the baby and brings him to Oregon, could the father charge him with kidnapping? How about other charges? The divorce hearing is in Texas.

Complicated, but I would appreciate your advice.

Hello.. we are in the military too .. if he was arrested on base in Japan I can not see the courts giving him custody of this child.. usually the military will not send you back to the states right away.. what else happened? I have seen lots of military families go through different things... I am sure there must be a record of some kind that this man is abusive . I am not sure about the kidnapping ?? .. I would contact your local military office and ask your ??'s. Hope you find what you are looking for!

Thank you for responding. After the wife called 911 the she was taken to the hospital where pictures were taken of the damage on her face. Later, her husband was arrested, sent to jail, and then flown out on the next carrier out of Japan to the U.S.

I appreciate your suggestion. I just do not want my boyfriend to get wrapped up in a mess too deep for hime, when he didn't want to be put in the situation in the first place. Thank you again!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by LondonGirl:
[b]Hello.. we are in the military too .. if he was arrested on base in Japan I can not see the courts giving him custody of this child.. usually the military will not send you back to the states right away.. what else happened? I have seen lots of military families go through different things... I am sure there must be a record of some kind that this man is abusive . I am not sure about the kidnapping ?? .. I would contact your local military office and ask your ??'s. Hope you find what you are looking for! [/b]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Luckily, people who have a record of abuse or violence rarely get custody of the children.

Every state is different in what it determines as sufficent abuse to stop an award of custody. What I mean by that, is that a slap round the face may be classed as abuse and police will be called.. but not enough to inact any side laws that stops a judge giving custody. I do not know what the extent of the abuse is 'required' by Texas but from your description, it was passed.

You have to document everything.. document the threats and if you can, tape them too.. but be careful with phone taping. Start off every conversation with the information that you are taping for future reference etc.

How long was the couple away ? .. how long has he been back in Texas ? Is he in the military too ?

As for kidnapping charges.. well, you be honest, in your situation I am not sure.. because normally both couples are in the same state when proceding start. In that case, you can not take the child out of the state unless you are in danger. Otherwise it is called kidnapping. I hope our resident attorney IAAL can step in here and answer this... but I 'think' the same is going to apply. You believe the child is in danger so you are taking it to safty.. what is also a little more confusing is that the mother is not doing the hiding but a third party..

I presume she has got an attorney in TX and is fighting for custody and supervised visitation ? .. make sure that when she goes to court, she has a plan for the judge to see how she is going to handle the child whilst in the military.




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[b]SMILE - Start Making It Livable for Everyone[/b]

Divorce is a process over which children have no control. Children should not be its victims.
When parents are under stress, it is harder to be in touch with their children's pain and anguish.
It takes time, effort, and planning on the part of the parents to be able to provide for the children's needs.
In the crisis of divorce, parents may put their children on hold while they attend to adult problems first.
Sometimes separating/divorced parents find that their roles and expectations are undefined and cloudy.
If handled properly, divorce need not be devastating for children.