Legal Question in Family Law in Indiana
Please help!!
My brother in law has a child w/ a woman who comes here each here each year from Texas to work. They did a paternity test in Nov. 01, after they said he was the father she no longer wanted the child and gave up her rights.This year she filed to get her custody back, she said she didn't understand English well enough to know what she had signed. Today 12/27/02 they received their ruling and the judge granted her sole custody. She was charged w/ child abuse upon the child in the state of Texas, the judge was presented with the court papers and said anything prior to Nov. 01 is of no concern to him. She is very unstable and we are concerned that she may leave w/ the child and take her out of the state or country. (She is of Hispanic orgin) The child is very depressed, will not eat or speak when she comes home from visiting her. It takes a week to get her back on track. My brother in law's atty. says he has no recourse here. Is there anything we can do?? Attorney fees have already drained the family.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Please help!!
It appears that there is much more to consider in this case than the brief factual overview provided before a soild analysis could be made. However, if the court here in Indiana concluded that the mother could not have reasonably understood the waiver of parental rights or custodial rights signed by her, then it had little choice.
The question is now, where does the child reside. If in Indiana, then a petition for change of custody may be possible. This would mean having to show a court that the mother is an unfit parent and the child may be at great risk. This also means starting all over again.
If the child now being in the sole custody of the mother is residing in another state, then that may be the proper venue in which to proceed. This means contacting an attorney in that state for assistance.
However, it should be understood that as the mother currently has sole custody, she may indeed take the child to another country, be it Mexico or another Latin-American country. This would obviously require quick action, if anything is to be done.
Please understand this is only an overview based on very limited facts. Other consideration may need to be made before any legal action is taken.The above should therefore not be relied upon as necessarily specific to this case.
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