Can my x-boyfriend have me arrested for kidnapping?

[Kann]

I will be leaving my boyfriend of 5 years next week with our son who is 4. I am also pregnant with his child. I have no family or friends who live inside the state of California where I can stay, not even temporarily, so I am moving in with some relatives who live out of state. There is no custodial order in place for our son, and although he did sign the birth certificate, we never signed a declaration of paternity.
My x-boyfriend found out that I am leaving, and he is now telling me that if I leave the state of California with his son, he will have me arrested for kidnapping. Can he do that?
Here is any information I can think of that may be pertinent to this question-
The father and I are not married.
There has been no declaration of paternity.
I am the primary caregiver.
We live in the state of California.
Our son was born in California.

Thanks in advance for anyone's help.

 

[carney]

He can't have you charged with kidnapping but he might be able to have the court return the child to California to establish visitation rights and stuff like that. He will have to go through the court for that though. All you can do is try the move and see what he does. Since you are not married, I don't even think he can get the court to make you move back either. Really all he can do is try to establish visitation rights. It would be beneficial to you if you could get your 4 year old in a preschool program to show that you are established in your new state.

 

[Kann]

carney, thank you so much. I posted this question on another forum and I got some very nasty replies and horrible assumptions were made. sour people! your reply was refreshing.

 

[Duranie]

If he signed the birth cert, normally they need to sign an acknowledgement of paternity.

How is he supposed to see his child(ren) if you move out of state? I am sure your 4 year old loves his dad and will miss him regardless of how you feel about it.

Be advised, you must live in this new state for at least 6 months before you can file anything in court (custody, child support). Also there is nothing that will prevent your boyfriend filing on his end since CA would still retain jurisdiction.

No, he cannot charge you with kidnapping, but he can file for visitation, custody or paternity in court and if he does, you will have to come back to CA for all court appearances or hire an attorney in CA to represent you.

 

[Malibu_Barbie]

Be advised, you must live in this new state for at least 6 months before you can file anything in court (custody, child support). Also there is nothing that will prevent your boyfriend filing on his end since CA would still retain jurisdiction.

Are you sure about this? I've never heard of such a thing under these circumstances during my 15 years of having been in the legal profession. Jurisdiction hasn't been established yet, so if a suit was filed by the boyfriend, he'd have to file it in the jurisdiction where the Defendant currently resides. If he filed a complaint with the police department, there's still a jurisdiction issue if the Defendant lived in another state.

As far as a kidnapping charge, the boyfriend has no ground to file one since paternity hasn't been established, there's no pending court proceeding, and the boyfriend isn't currently making court-ordered child support payments.

If the boyfriend did attempt to file a complaint, that's when I would file a counterclaim for paternity, child support and alimony (if appropriate).

 

[Duranie]

You cannot move from one state to another, then file immediately in that new state.

You must reside in that new state for a minimum of 6 months, otherwise the courts will say CA has juridiction. Jurisdiction is not autmomatically where the mother and child reside, it is the last place they recided for 6 months or more.