Legal Question in Family Law in California

Can we move?

My husband and I have Full Physical & Legal Custody of his 4 yr old son. The birth mother has not seen the child for 18 months, never paid support nor has she had ANY type of contact for almost 1 year.(Only contact was 1 note about 9 months ago) We have No idea where the birth mother is located and in the past had called all the places she use to live with no success. My husband is in the Military and we will be moving to the East Coast possibly. Do we have to get permission from the birth mother (even though we have NO CLUE where she is) or can we just move since we have physical & legal custody? Any help would be appreciated. Thank You!


Asked on 4/02/00, 12:09 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Lyle Johnson Bedi and Johnson Attorneys at Law

Re: Can we move?

You can move. If there is a visitation order for mother, you should petition for court for an order that you can move. This will avoid possible problems in the future. California law prohibits hiding the child from a person that has either the right to custody or visitation. You should also consider a provision that you will inform either a member of mother's family or your family where the child will be living. This will make it easier to give her notice of the location of the child.

The other option would be to consider obtaining an order terminating her parental rights and doing a step parent adoption.

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Answered on 4/17/00, 4:30 am


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