Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Re: Is it child abduction?

Unless he is attempting to conceal them it probably is not a violation of the Parental Kidnapping Act. Depending on when he is scheduled to get the children back to you, if that date has already passed, I would recommend that you consider starting out with a motion for contempt, and you could consider filing an ex parte order seeking immediate effect. If the return date has not happened yet, you could either start getting ready for filing the contempt action or you could wait to see what actually happens on the date, a judgment call based on your sense of whether he is going to do what he says (or not).

Re: Is it child abduction?

Mr. Steuart has it right. Start with the least stress to the children by filing (through counsel) a motion to have him held in contempt for failing to follow the order (and then blaming the kids).

If service of that motion does not bring his attention to the portential penalties, just follow through with it.

Chances are very, very good that the Court will order him to hand them over and give you make up time and order him to pay costs and fees for intransigence.

In the event this doesn't work, your next step is to ask the court to issue a writ of habeus corpus requiring the sheriff to go get the twins.

You absolutely want an attorney who practices family law to do this for you; this is not self-help law.

Hope this helps - Elizabeth Powell