Legal Question in Family Law in California
My boyfriend has joint custody of his 2 yr old daughter and visitations were ordered to happen every other month. The first drop off date for my boyfriend was supposed to happen August 1st 2009, mother and child did not appear. The mother has the child in her possesion and refuses to give any info to her whereabouts, all we know is that she is in Tucson, AZ which the court is aware. But she rufuses to let the father see the baby and refuses to give her address. We recently learned that she has lost her job, her utilities are scheduled to be turned off and the mother has no money to pay the rent for December.
We have found disturbing pictures of the baby on the mother's facebook profile including the baby bathing, on the toilet and nude from head to toe.
My question is, what is the first step that he should take? Should he report these pictures? Should he file a petition in court or should he report his child as missing?
We are so desperate knowing that his daughter may be homeless.
Also, she has admitted to possibly fleeing to Mexico with the child if my boyfriend files for sole custody and even threatened that if he were to travel to AZ to try and get his daughter that he will be shot.
Please help!
1 Answer from Attorneys
The first thing you should do is contact Child Protective Services. Next, you should print out the pictures of the child she posted on facebook so you can use them as evidence in Court.
If the custody order was made in a California court, you need to file an ex parte order for modification of child custody/visitation. You need emergency orders since she is threatening to flee the country and is possibly going to be homeless as of the first of the month.