I was told that my boyfriend could get me for kidnapping if we broke up and I took the kids! Even thi he has said before I will get the kids cause he can't deal with the crying!:confused:

The ONLY time you could be charged for kidnapping your own kids is if there is a court ordered custody/visitation arrangement that awards custody to the father.

It IS, however, possible that he may be able to prevent you from moving a significant distance with the kids.

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Originally Posted by stevetcg

It IS, however, possible that he may be able to prevent you from moving a significant distance with the kids.

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This is also true, assuming there is a custody/visitation order in place.

If you take your child and disappear with him/her and don't tell the dad where you are, then YES you can be charged with parental abduction. It all depends upon the facts. Taking off with a child and hiding the child from the other parent is parental kidnapping. It is not necessary that there be a custody order in place that you've violated for the crime to be committed.

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Originally Posted by cadillac59

If you take your child and disappear with him/her and don't tell the dad where you are, then YES you can be charged with parental abduction. It all depends upon the facts. Taking off with a child and hiding the child from the other parent is parental kidnapping. It is not necessary that there be a custody order in place that you've violated for the crime to be committed.

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Interesting. If the father was not on the birth certificate wouldn't they have to go to court first to establish legal parentage?

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Interesting. If the father was not on the birth certificate wouldn't they have to go to court first to establish legal parentage?

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There is a prusumtion of parentage when a man holds a child out as his own. Having established that then until a court can hear it he is the presumed father. So he has some rights. He would still have to go to court and get DNA etc Im sure before a DA would prosecute but the fact remains that the child was cared for and under his roof at one time also being held out as his own.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Interesting. If the father was not on the birth certificate wouldn't they have to go to court first to establish legal parentage?

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There's a ton of stuff on the internet and at law libraries about parental kidnapping (sometimes called child snatching) and the US State Dept. has a lot about it on its website, especially as it relates to international cases. What it essentially involves is the taking of a child with the intent of denying the other parent (who has co-equal rights to custody) access to the child. One online commentator referred to it this way and I think this fairly summarizes it:

If, however, one parent removes the child to a second or unknown location, the purpose of which is to deny the custody or visitation of the other parent, even without a standing custody decision, it is considered parental kidnapping. In such situations, while warrants for the arrest of the absconding parent and the return of the child are being issued, the left behind parent will also be granted emergency custody.


It's not always the easiest to prove "intent to deny custody/visitation" to the other parent but it is not necessary that there be an existing custody order in place.

If the parent denied access has no presumption of paternity going for him then it may not be parental kidnapping--even if you can prove the intent element-- until the person goes to court and opens a case to establish parentage. I honestly don't know the answer to that question without researching it. If anyone out there would like to take the time to find this out, please let us know. I would assume some appellate court has had to tackle that question before.

This is part of criminal law and one I usually leave to people who practice in that field (I'm a family law specialist and I don't do criminal law at all). There's a whole big body of law on parental kidnapping for anyone who's got the time and interest in researching it.