Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Re: separation and custody

The best way to protect against your husband taking off with your 15 month old is to obtain a court order to restrains or limits his visitation with the child. In order to get the court order, you need a legal basis that tells the court there is a danger of dad taking off with baby. Just your hunch alone will not be enough, unless there is a history of this behavior in the past.

I'd need to know the full background of the case to better tell you what to do, but suffice it to say, I would be looking for a history of acts of domestic violence or your husband taking off with your daughter in the past, or at least the threat that he would do so, hopefully overheard by others (he said, she said does not go very far in court).

Ultimately, you need to file your divorce paperwork and get a motion set before a family law commissioner or judge to enter temporary orders regarding custody (called a Temporary Parenting Plan), and child support. The Temporary Parenting Plan will usually have restrictions such as both parents are not allowed to remove the child from the state of Washington pending entry of a Final Parenting Plan. Courts routinely issue this type of restriction when there are heated disputes, particularly surrounding taking off with a child.

I suggest that you hire an attorney to help you in this matter to make sure the paperwork is properly prepared. If you cannot afford one, start surfing the internet for free or low cost lawyers who will take your case through various organizations, such as the Northwest Justice Project.

If you like, you can e-mail me with the details of your case and I can elaborate with more precision about how I suggest you handle this matter.