Ask Me Help Desk - Child abduction

I am currently in the state of California and while I was in the military the mother of my 2 liitle girls (not married) left the state and now I connot find her. I petitioned the court and sent the petiton along with the osc to her last know adresse(her parents) I filed defuald and it was enterd, when I filed child abduction orders and askerd the court to assist me is locating my children... once again I served at her parents adresse on the court date an attorney appeard as (limited scope) and challenged the service of the origonal petition yet he stated he did not know were she is nore has he skope w her. He doesn't even represent her.. he said he is stepping in on a favor... the judge then denied my petition and told me to find her after that I was in tears and ask the judge to dimiss my case, I had been working on this case for almost two years. The very next day that attorney served me with her petition from New Hampshire.. what should I do I want to see my kiks please help me!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by nmuray0911

I am currently in the state of california and while i was in the military the mother of my 2 liitle girls (not married) left the state and now i connot find her. I petitioned the court and sent the petiton along with the osc to her last know adresse(her parents) i filed defuald and it was enterd, when i filed child abduction orders and askerd the court to assist me is locating my children...once again i served at her parents adresse on the court date an attorney appeard as (limited scope) and challenged the service of the origonal petition yet he stated he did not know were she is nore has he skope w her. He doesnt even represent her..he said he is stepping in on a favor...the judge then denied my petition and told me to find her after that i was in tears and ask the judge to dimiss my case, i had been working on this case for almost two years. The very next day that attorney served me with her petition from new hampshire..what should i do i wanna see my kiks please help me!!!

You appear in New Hampshire and argue your case. Apparently that is where she is with the chldren. You will argue for visitation, perhaps custody, she will argue for the same things and probably increased child support if you are now out of the military.

The Attorney did not act improperly if he appeared only to state that the papers you had served were served incorrectly. He appeared so that a default judgment would not be entered in your favor and against her if she doesn't reside where the papers were served.

She and the children have been "missing" for two years? I'm surprised that the support unit couldn't locate her (someone has to forward the child support to her).

It's too late now but you should have hired a private investigator to find her.

I'm sure you've been advised that she did not abduct the children. She had the same rights to them as you had and it appears she was by circumstance the custodial parent.

What were her grounds for leaving without notice? That will enter into the hearing, also.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nmuray0911

I am currently in the state of california and while i was in the military the mother of my 2 liitle girls (not married) left the state and now i connot find her. I petitioned the court and sent the petiton along with the osc to her last know adresse(her parents) i filed defuald and it was enterd, when i filed child abduction orders and askerd the court to assist me is locating my children...once again i served at her parents adresse on the court date an attorney appeard as (limited scope) and challenged the service of the origonal petition yet he stated he did not know were she is nore has he skope w her. He doesnt even represent her..he said he is stepping in on a favor...the judge then denied my petition and told me to find her after that i was in tears and ask the judge to dimiss my case, i had been working on this case for almost two years. The very next day that attorney served me with her petition from new hampshire..what should i do i wanna see my kiks please help me!!!

What was the default judgement that you received during your first trip through the courts ? Did you ask for and receive custody ? Then file abduction charges ?
If the lawyer showed up but didn't represent her and the case was against her then she wasn't represented in the courts that day.. It makes no sense that a judge would even hear anything from that person. Who was he representing ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by nmuray0911

I am currently in the state of california and while i was in the military the mother of my 2 liitle girls (not married) left the state and now i connot find her. I petitioned the court and sent the petiton along with the osc to her last know adresse(her parents) i filed defuald and it was enterd, when i filed child abduction orders and askerd the court to assist me is locating my children...once again i served at her parents adresse on the court date an attorney appeard as (limited scope) and challenged the service of the origonal petition yet he stated he did not know were she is nore has he skope w her. He doesnt even represent her..he said he is stepping in on a favor...the judge then denied my petition and told me to find her after that i was in tears and ask the judge to dimiss my case, i had been working on this case for almost two years. The very next day that attorney served me with her petition from new hampshire..what should i do i wanna see my kiks please help me!!!

You need to say how long after the mom disappeared with the kids that you filed your case. If you filed within 6 months of her departure, then California has continuing exclusive jurisdiction and you can pursue the case here. Otherwise, if you waited too long (> 6 months to commence the case) you are probably stuck with having to litigate this in NH.

Whenever you are faced with a child abduction situation (say mom takes off with the kid and doesn't tell you where she is), you run into court on the ex parte calendar for an emergency order giving you sole legal and physical custody of the child (you'll get it too if she's really hiding out and not telling you where she is). And the nice thing is, you don't have to find and serve her to get these orders. You get the orders first, THEN try to find her (the abduction alone is sufficient reason to grant sole custody on an emergency basis- Cal. Family Code Section 3064). Every DA's office in California has a child abduction unit that locates kids that have been taken out of state by a parent who is in hiding. They are available to locate the child and mom and often they'll even arrange to have the mom served the OSC and they will return the kids to you.

I did this a couple years ago for a client whose wife took off with their son and went to Washington. We found her within a week and he's had custody ever since.