mother kiddnaps, what can i do?

[brad]

my son is three. his mother and i divorced in alaska where custody arrangments were made. We each have 50% custody. I had signed an agreement that she could move to florida and i would also move. she did, immediately ,and i missed my son for three months while i saved money to move. after moving to florida i found that she is remarried and pregnent. she, her husband, and myself are unhappy living in florida, so we all agree to move.them being in florda over a year and myself not quit a year, makes them residents, and myself still resident of alaska. i make a document that states that she is allowing her son to move and become a resident of new mexico, where we all decided to move, she signs and it is noterized. a moving date was set. a week prior to that date she says she wont be ready for a couple more months. i have given notice to my job, rental and closed all affairs. she allowed me to leave with my son. durring her two month absence she talks to her son three times. after she arrives in new mexico she immediatley takes him for a weekend, then drops him of with me. she doesn't call him or visit for two weeks. then she just shows up and i allow her to take him. after her three and one half days she calls just prior to the arranged drop of time and leaves a message stating she wants to keep him an additional two days, and she will call back. it has been eleven days now and i have tried to contact her but get no response to the messages i leave. i have a cell phone number and no address or where abouts. i filed reports with the police and she will be facing a fourth degree felony if she doesn't return him in fourteen days from the time of the report. there is a delima, the last place my son was resident was florida, and the custody order is still in the alaska court. i am in the process of trying to get new mexico to accept the case and enforce the arrangements that we have. can i get custody? help, help.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

No one can tell you whether you will get custody -- that is a decision for the court. One would think that you would have a pretty good case

The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act and the Federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act might eventually help you if you can get an order for custody in your state that you are in. The courts in another state are to recognize orders of another state in order to prevent using the law to effectuate what amounts to kidnapping by using technicalities in the law. It also prevents you from having to run to every state where the mother of your child may have fled.