up and gone

[mckay72]

My brother and his common-law wife are in the middle of a divorce/custody battle. They have 2 girls together. My brother was given custody of the girls from friday 9am til sunday 6pm. He went to the school to get the girls this last friday and the teacher said that they had been pulled out of school the previous monday.
The teacher also said that she heard the mothers boyfriend talking about moving to floridia. My brother then went to the cops and asked them to go by the mothers house and see if they had left or get the girls. While the cops were at the house my brother talked to the landlord and the landlord said that the mothers boyfriend was talking about moving to floridia. The beds had been pulled apart and other things were missing from the house. My brother was also told that the last time the mother, boyfriend and the children were seen was tuesday night packing things into the truck.
We live in oklahoma and I was wanting to know if the mother can just up and move to another state without informing the childrens father while they are in a divorce/custody battle?
Please help if you can, my brother loves his children and don't want to loose them.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

This would likely constitute a violation of the custody order. Most states have adopted the Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA), which provides the recognition and enforcement of orders from other states. He shouldn't lose them legally although now he has to find them, hopefully with the help of the authorities. I'm sure he has already reported the children to the police as missing persons. Good luck to your brother!