Child Taken From Florida

by Rick from Brandon, Florida, Hillsborough County

My wife, minor child and I went on vacation to Louisiana by car. I flew home after the weekend and she and my child were supposed to return the next weekend. At the end of the week she called and said she was not coming home.

She is staying in Louisiana with my son. She has enrolled him in school there.

I have informed her (by phone and by text message) that this is not proper and she does not have my permission to keep my son from me nor to enroll him in a local school in Louisiana.

I want him returned. Does she have any legal ground to keep him? What forms do I need to file to gain custody of my son?

Answer to Florida Child Custody Question

Dear Rick,

What your wife has done amounts to parental abduction, and is considered child endangerment.

You can file Florida Supreme Court approved form 12.941(d), Emergency Verified Motion for Child Pick-Up Order.

The form and an Order to go along with it are available on the Florida Supreme Court's website at www.flcourts.org. Instructions for that form state in part:

You may use this form to request that the court enter an order directing the sheriff or other law enforcement officer to take a minor children from the person who currently has physical possession of the child(ren) and deliver the children to your physical custody or possession.

This form should only be used in an emergency by a person who has a per-existing legal right to physical possession of a minor child.
This means that you already have a court order awarding you legal custody of or time-sharing with the children OR you are the birth mother of one or more children born out of wedlock and no court order has addressed any other person=s parental rights.

Since you are the legal father by marriage you have a right to child custody equal to your wife.

Law enforcement officers of other states will follow a Florida court order to pick up a child.

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