Legal Question in Family Law in Alaska

Re: rights of a mother to take her children with her when she leaves a realtions

Be advised that I do not practice in your jurisdiction, and that your laws regarding custody and parenting might be different from my state�s laws. Also, a �general rule� in my state might not be a general rule in your state, and it might not apply to a specific case. Your wisest action would be to hire an attorney to help you.

In my state, the general rule goes like this: Each parent has a 100% right to custody of his or her own child until a court rules otherwise. When a court rules on parenting issues, the court order is what determines each parent�s rights to make decisions for and about the child, and where the child resides. So, if you and your boyfriend do not have a court-ordered parenting plan

concerning the daughter, whoever has the child at that moment has the right to �possess� the child. So, for example, if one parent has physical custody of the child and refuses to release her to the other parent, the other parent can call law enforcement to help get the child but the officer is likely to say �there�s no court order, so there�s nothing we can do.�

You said �there was a custody case applied for by� your boyfriend but you haven�t responded

to the summons and complaint yet. You need to understand that the court doesn�t have to wait

for you to answer. The summons tells you that you have a certain time to answer. If you don�t

answer by that date, the petitioner (boyfriend) can ask the court to default you.

That said, if all you want is statutes to quote, you can go to any county library and look up the family law statutes that apply.