Child Custody IAQ: Crossing State Lines aka Parental Kidnapping

Child custody cases are extremely complex, and not just because of the human realities and emotional investment involved — they’re complex just on their own, as legal entities. That’s why we’re devoting a couple of weeks this month to a short Child Custody IAQ: Infrequently Asked Questions. Today’s questions involve crossing state lines with your children, often a crucial factor in the almost-but-not-always-a-crime known as ‘Parental Kidnapping.’

What do State Lines Have to do with Parental Kidnapping?
One of the freedoms that most Americans enjoy and absolutely take as a given is the ability to travel freely between states. Yet for some special groups, crossing state lines isn’t a freedom they enjoy. If you’re from Washington state, for example, and you take even a tiny amount of your legal recreational marijuana over the border into Idaho, it’s game over. If you’re from Arizona and you carry a concealed weapon (and permit!) over the border into California, same deal.

Ditto, in many but not all states, if you have a child custody agreement with your ex- and you take your child across state lines without going through a significant legal rigmarole first. But what exactly those hoops are and when they have to be jumped through is different for every state, and in some states several layers of added complexity are, well, added. One of the most common facets of parental kidnapping laws is that they’re invoked the moment you attempt to leave the state with your child.

What Is Defined as ‘Parental Kidnapping’?
Even that changes from state to state, but at the minimum this is true in all states: if you, for an extended period of time, deliberately keep a child away from the parent that is supposed to be enjoying visitation or custodial time with the intent to conceal that child from them, you are guilty of parental kidnapping. Noteworthy is the fact that no force has to be involved: the child can be quite happily tagging along with you and have no concept that anything is even wrong — if the other parent is supposed to have them and you’re keeping the child away, that’s parental kidnapping. Also noteworthy is the one universal exception: if you’re concealing the child because of a supported belief that the other parent would abuse or neglect the child, that is an affirmative defense to the charge of parental kidnapping.

How Can I Move Out of State if I’m Sharing Custody?
Simply put, you can’t…not without the court’s permission. In Michigan, any move of 100 miles or move that takes you across state borders is illegal without permission from the other parent or a court order allowing it. Such a court order is generally only granted if you can prove that the move would meaningfully enhance the child’s quality of life and will not prevent the other parent from maintaining a meaningful relationship with the child. If you absolutely have to move out of the state for whatever reason, the court will decide how to proceed based on the unique circumstances of your case…but quite often that means ‘the parent that stays gets custody.’ Sorry.

What’s the Punishment for Parental Kidnapping?
In most cases, it’s a year of jail time and/or a fine of $2,000 — but it’s worthy of note that most cases that involve parental kidnapping also involve a slew of other related charges, such that being found guilty of this crime means you’re also going away for things like child snatching, false imprisonment, and so on.