Legal Question in Family Law in Alabama

Child custody

A friend of mine was attacked by her stepmother, in their home, the law was called and only the stepdaughter was picked up on a charge of domestic violence. Before leaving the house, my friend asked the officers to have her 3 month old child removed from this house. They didn't remove him. The next day I went & bailed her out of jail. We went to the dispatch office to get a escort back to her residence to pick up her child, we were then told that she possibly couldn't get her child. We went to the courthouse & got a court order that the child could be picked up by her. We went back to the sheriff's dispatch office & they called the judge & he receded the court order, because he was told that it was a civil matter & that he wasn't allowed to give that type of order. We were informed that 2 sheriff deputies would escort us to the residence, but not to get out of the vehicle & that they were legally bound to inform the grandparents of the child that they didn't have to give him up. We were escorted & they wouldn't allow her to pick up her son, or to see him. She thought that she already had full custody of this child. He doesn't have any other parent. How can she obtain custody of her son? What kinds of steps should she go through?


Asked on 1/31/07, 11:44 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mari Morrison Mari Morrison

Re: Child custody

It sounds as if she certainly needs to do this through an attorney. Is she married to the father? Where is the father? She should go to the family court and file a Habeas Corpus petition to produce the child and that the child is being held without her consent. A lot of this depends on the county in which she is located. If the father lives in the same house, then he too has custody. So that is important. Also, if her step-mother fights, she can claim the child is in danger of being harmed while in the unlawful custody of the grandmother. But she really needs a lawyer.

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Answered on 1/31/07, 4:27 pm


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