Know Your Rights: Parental Kidnapping Cases in Florida

Parental kidnapping might seem like an odd concept, but it happens all the time all over the USA. Sometimes it is accidental and other times it is quite deliberate. Whether your child’s other parent is likely to take your child or not, it’s an important bit of law to be familiar with.

What Is It

The law surrounding parental kidnapping is laid out in Statute 787.03. Essentially, any time you fail to meet the guidelines of your custody agreement, it could potentially become a parental kidnapping case. The law describes it as anyone who has malicious intent in drawing a child away from their rightful custody holder. This includes any sort of coercion used to convince a child to leave with you. Respecting your child custody agreement should always be a priority, but especially so considering parental kidnapping is a felony of the third degree. Best practice is always to follow your court ordered time-sharing plan, but there are sometimes extenuating circumstances we cannot avoid.

Accepted Defenses

There are few situations in which the state grants you permission to disregard the time-sharing plan. These situation are:

·         when you have reasonable cause to believe your child will be hurt if they return to the other parent’s home

·         when you believe that you will be a victim of domestic violence if you return the child to the other parent’s home

·         when the child has made their own decision to leave the other parent’s home

In each of these cases, you must submit your report to the authorities. Most officials will help to point you in the right direction here as to how to proceed with getting an amended time-sharing agreement.

When To Report It

If your child’s other guardian hasn’t fulfilled their side of your time-sharing agreement, it is best to report it as soon as possible. Especially if tensions are high between you and your child’s other parent, you will want to call the authorities right away. It may seem daunting to call the sheriff, but it’s never a bad idea. Even if your child shows up soon after, they will have record of the missed appointment. If the behaviour continues, you will be able to show judges it is a pattern.