my daughter moved to another city and left her son with his father. they had joint custody, now he will not allow my grandson to see her , a...

Question

my daughter moved to another city and left her son with his father. they had joint custody, now he will not allow my grandson to see her , and just recently has kept him from me for allowing her to talk to him when he visits me. my daughter wants nothing to do with my grandsons father... because he is verbally abusive, and loses his temper. what can i do?

Answer

It sounds like your daughter needs to hire an attorney. Depending on the circumstances she may be considered the move-away parent but that does not mean she has lost her parental rights or any of her visitation rights.

If the custody agreement has not been changed and the father is keeping the child away from his mother, the father may face some nasty consequences for his actions. It is impossible to give you an accurate answer to your question without knowing more facts and asking many more questions. When one parent moves out of the area they are generally required to provide for the transportation for the visits. This can be accomplished in a number of ways such as performing the actual driving when the distance allows for such or by paying for the transportation between the two households. However, simply moving out of the area doesn't cause a parent to lose their parental rights or their visitation rights. The details of the move such as the distance may make it necessary to modify the custody and visitation schedule but moving by itself does not constitute abandoning a child.

In regards to your situation with the child, unless you have visitation rights that are recognized by the court there is probably very little you can do about the father not giving you access to the child. However, you could always go into court and request visitation with your grandchild.

I strongly suggest you and your daughter contact an attorney, immediately. Your daughter may want to start exercising her visitation rights under the current custody agreement. Perhaps the way for you to do something is to assist your daughter in her endeavors to exercise her visitation and/or custody rights. If you have questions regarding these issues please feel free to contact our office through our web site at www.brianmcginitylaw.com .

Good luck

Answer

If your daughter is not married to the biological father, she should file a petition for paternity and an ex parte motion for custody and visitation. If married, a divorce petition with this motion would be the first step.