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jjjackson · Feb 18, 2011, 06:31 PM

How can we get my wife's son back from his grandmother ?I have a question ! My wife has custody of her son the biological grand mother has him and will not let her see him or give him back . We have been to sherrifs office and they say you have to hire an atty most atty want 2500 dollar retainer fee before they help we can't afford that ,does any one know of what to do or how to get her son back ?

ScottGem · Feb 18, 2011, 06:36 PM

What proof do you have that your wife has custody? As long as she can prove it, the local law enforcement should accompany you to retrieve the child.

What where the circumstances that the grandmother has the child. How old is the child? What grounds does the grandmother have for keeping the child?

jjjackson · Feb 18, 2011, 06:55 PM

She has certified court copy of custody papers , we have been to sherrifs office they said they won't enforce unless the judge makes them

She has certified court copy of custody papers , her son is 10 , the grandmother lives in ms and we live in tn she was nice and has let grandmother have biological fathers visitation , we have been to sherriffs office they will not get her son , everyone says possession is 9/10ths of the law and the grandmother has him and she hasn't seen him for three months they all say we have to hire an atty and get the judge to order the sherriff to apprehend her son to give him back

ScottGem · Feb 18, 2011, 07:23 PM

So go to the court with a copy of the custody order and get the judge to issue an order affirming custody.

Which sheriff did you go to, the one in corinth? Try going to the MS state cops instead. The sheriff is lying to you. He just doesn't want to get involved or he is on the mother's side. As long as you have proof of custody you shouldn't need an additional court order.

ScottGem · Feb 18, 2011, 08:51 PM

Originally Posted by jjjackson

we went to the court house and was told the judge would not see us we had to hire an atty all of the ones we spoke with wanted 2500 dollar fees to start on it , this is so frustrating she has proof but no one wants to do there jobs , and we can't afford an atty right now yes county sherriffs office , and the grandmothers brother is a local police officer , i had to get her out of jail the last time we tried to see him, they made me pay 120 dollar fine the recipt was wrote out paid old fine , i can't afford her going to jail everytime we try to see him or get him

You need to be VERY clear here. But also not too clear. There are several locations involved and we need to know which is which. I've deleted your last post and posted an edited version in quotes because it is too identifying. Unfortunately because you used the Comments feature instead of the Answer options, I can't edit the post like I did your other one. Please use the ANSWER options.

We have
Loc 1: The court that issued the original custody order.
Loc 2: Where the grandmother lives.
Loc 3: Where you currently live.

Are Loc 1 & to the same or are Loc 1 & 3 the same? Or are there other locations? If 1 & 2 are the same then you have a big problem. It would appear they are conspiring against your wife. If 1 & 3 are the same, you should be going to the court at Loc 1. But my suspicion is that 1 & 2 are the same.

You should NOT be required to get an attorney to get a judge to enforce a custody order. This is a simple thing. Even if you did it should not cost $2500. It would take a paralegal less than an hour to properly prepare the petition.

So if 1 & 2 are the same, you have to go outside the county of Loc 1. You have to go to the State courts and possibly the state police.

There is a caveat here. You haven't answered my question about what grounds the grandmother has for defying a custody order. You are only telling us her side of the story. What story would the grandmother tell us?

I would recommend getting an attorney. But not one from Loc 2. I would get one from the state capital. As for not being able to afford one, you can't really afford not to have one. Not if your wife wants her child back.

cdad · Feb 18, 2011, 09:45 PM

I think that if you have the papers for custody and there is nothing that says the grandmother has temporary custody then march into the sheriffs office or the police and file kidnapping charges against her if she refuses to return the child. They will have to get involved then.

ScottGem · Feb 19, 2011, 04:31 AM

Originally Posted by califdadof3

I think that if you have the papers for custody and there is nothing that says the grandmother has temporary custody then march into the sheriffs office or the police and file kidnapping charges against her if she refuses to return the child. They will have to get involved then.

If you decide to do that, and I'm not saying you shouldn't, I would go to the FBI instead of the sheriff. Kidnapping, especially crossing state lines, is federal. Besides which, if the local law is protecting the grandmother as it appears to be doing, then they will ignore you. FBI may ignore you as well since this is mostly a domestic issue. But you might get lucky and talk to someone who is as incensed as I am at this apparent flouting of the law by the people sworn to uphold it.