Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia
My son and his first wife has two children together. When they decided a divorce was in order they had a personal verbal agreement about the custody of the children. It was decided that the oldest child ( a daughter) would reside with the Father and that the son who is the youngest and autitistic would reside with the mother. That neither of them would pursue child support and would have liberal visitation with the child not living with him or her. They have since both remarried and had children with their new spouses. The new husband began to try and take on the roll of father to the son in many ways that he should not have, even to the point of my ex daughter in law teaching my grandson to call her new husband daddy. I advised my son that it may be tme to have things drawn up legally. The ex daughter in law is a very manipulative and often times a not so honest person which is part of the reason for the divorce in the first place. My son was convinced that she would do right by him and his son for some reason and did not want to hear it even though many things with the new husband really bothered him about his son. The new husband vowed to my son that he would always safegaurd my grandson and would not agree to anything that could or would be detrimental to him. My son called his ex two days ago to make arrangements to have his son some during the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. This is when he learned that his ex wife had pulled their son out of school and placed in a state mental hospital over a week ago without his Fathers knowledge or approval and to the dismay and horror of the rest of the family. Could/can she do this without my sons permission or knowledge? Is this legal? What can my son do to help his son? He is only 10 yrs old. He is autistic but not severely. He is a very aware and loving child. It's breaking my heart to know that he is halfway across the state in a mental hospital where he knows no one at all and that there is no one to act on his behalf. My son was told that he would not be allowed visitors not even him for a long period of time and then would be transferred to another mental hospital in Tennessee. What the hell has she done? My son is beside himself and when he tries to contact her to find out exactly where his son is and what is going on she ignores his calls and will not return them. Please help!!!! I don't know if I mentioned that both biological parents, the step parents and the child/children all are residents of the state of Virginia.
2 Answers from Attorneys
I am sorry to hear this, very sad. Parents have great leeway in deciding what is best for their children. She should have let him know about this, however. You are correct that it is time to put things in writing. You need to consult and/or hire an attorney asap. Good luck.
It sounds as if there has to be a custody, visitation, and support hearing. Perhaps all parties can reach an agreement and incorporate into order. That would be nice to avoid too much litigation. But sometimes people cannot agree and if so you will need quality representation.
If there is a real emergency as to health, safety, and welfare of child - you may file for an emergency hearing.
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