Recent Feedback
I am in the military being relocated to Alaska. I am also getting divorced. My ex want to take my 2 yr old daughter and move away from my family and myself where I live in Massachusetts. What are my rights?
Optional Information: State/Country relating to question: Massachusetts Already Tried: I am coming home from Kansas for a month before leaving for Alaska. Nothing has been noted about the child. She did haved custody while I was deployed in Afgananistan. She has no job or home lined up for my daughter just moving with her boyfriend
-Could you explain your situation a little more?Do you want to take your daughter to AK with you?
Where exactly do you want your child to live?
Where is your ex moving from and to?
You mention Kansas and MA and AK so I'm just not certain who plans to live where?
I would like nothing more than to bring my daughter to Alaska. I live in Massachsetts as well as my family who have been watching her daily while my ex has a part time job. Myself,daughter and ex are both from Massachusetts but we lived as a family where I was stationed in Kansas , but upon returning from Afganistan my wife chose to have affair and she moved out and moved back to Massachisetts where she resides now living with a guy. She notified me that she is moving and taking my daughter to Texas where her new boyfriends family is. We have not finialized our divorce nor talked about custody. I need to stop her from taking my daugher the end of the month away from me and my family.She plans on Leaving May 28. I am in Massachusetts from May 8-June 8 in the orders for Alaska for next 3 years. I have been in military 5 years and have been main supporter of my daughter
DearCustomer- Generally it is rather easy to stop a parent from removing the child from the jurisdiction and away from the other parent. The problem is that you are leaving for AK so whether your child is in TX or MA she is still far away form you. So you would have to file a motion in your divorce case for a restraining order to keep your ex from taking the child out of the jurisdiction of MA as it would not be in the best interests of the child. This is tricky but you may be able to structure this around the idea of grandparent visitation which is designed for situations where the child of the grandparents is not available for visitation and therefore the grandparent has no right to visit through their own child. Then the courts will grant grandparent visitation. Unless you can get some type of a court order to keep the child in MA I see no way to stop her form leaving, if not on May 28 at least after you leave for AK. At that point you will not be in the picture as far as regular visitation so it wouldn't matter where the child was living unless it affected the visitation rights of the grandparents. The only other option I see is for you to ask the court for custody and take the child with you to AK. You would have to show that you are able to care for your child along with carrying out your duties of your job. All of this is going to be complicated at best in order to be successful so I would strongly recommend obtaining the advice of local counsel.
Experience: 25 years experience as practicing attorney