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    percellc's Avatar
    percellc Posts: 1, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Jan 13, 2010, 03:26 AM
    Florida child abandonment laws
    I live in Fl and my soon to be x wife and mother, while I was at work moved out and took my 3 girls with them after a week she called and said she wants a divorce and she would be moving back to fl soon to start over but it has been almost 5 months no divorce no children and very limited contact. Is this against the law? Can they take my girls that easy? Is there some one I can call like social services to at least get my girls here and let the courts decide? Help Please
    Fr_Chuck's Avatar
    Fr_Chuck Posts: 81,301, Reputation: 7692
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    #2

    Jan 13, 2010, 05:38 AM

    Where did she move to?

    Ok, after a vary of time, six months in GA you establish residence, so if she moved to GA, she can sue for divorce in GA and you have little chance of trying to get them back to FL.

    What you were suppose to do,
    As soon as they left, go to court, file for a order of custody and if she moved out of state ask she be ordered to move your children back so you have the ability to see them

    Waiting 5 months shows, at least to the court a lack of concern.

    And no it is not a criminal law, but there are lots of divorce and child custody laws, but they require you to file for custody in court,

    You need to call legal aid, hire an attorney or something
    ScottGem's Avatar
    ScottGem Posts: 64,966, Reputation: 6056
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    #3

    Jan 13, 2010, 05:52 AM

    Please pay more attention to posting guidelines. There is a Read First sticky in the Divorce forum (where this was moved from) that directs questions of a legal nature to this forum.

    As Chuck said, what have you been waiting for? Why haven't you gone to court to establish custody and visitation? You need to do this BEFORE she moves. You should have done it immediately.

    I would strongly suggest you hire a Family Law attorney ASAP to help you through this.

    But the first thing you need to do is file for divorce. In the divorce you ask for Joint Legal and Physical custody. You probably won't get joint Physical custody, but you still ask. The court will then approve a visitation schedule. Once that is in place, she will not be able to move if it affects the visitation schedule.

    Once you start litigation, she will be constrained from moving.
    Had you done so, you might have also read the sticky note there about child abandonment and known that it doesn't apply in your case.

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