SPARC Forums

Hello all i'm in a very sticky situation.  I'm in the military, (Air Force) and i'm stationed in japan.  I have a 7 month old boy.  Right now i'm getting out of the military in about 1 month or so and I want custody of my child.  His mother is from the philippines, we have to leave japan.  But we're not staying together.  We don't have any paperwork at all stating anything about custody because we haven't went thru the divorce process yet.  My child is a US citizen with a US birth certificate and US passport.  Would I get into any legal trouble if I just told her I was going to take him with me back to the states?  Like I said we CAN'T stay in japan and my son either has to come with me or go with her.  

Please help in any way you can.

Thank you all in advance

Aaron

I would suggest that you post this in the Socrateaser forum. Any legal advice you get in this forum wouldn't be very useful since you can't count on it having legal validity. Soc will tell you when he isn't sure about a situation, so you can usually take his advice to the bank.

Also, doesn't the military provide access to legal personnel to help resolve situations like this one?

You would think they would help out but not in times like this they only provide an advocate for military criminal cases

Then I'd suggest getting yourself a lawyer well versed in fathers' rights and custody issues and/or post to the Socrateaser forum.

Thanks for you help, i posted on the forums that you suggested.

>Hello all i'm in a very sticky situation.  I'm in the
>military, (Air Force) and i'm stationed in japan.  I have a 7
>month old boy.  Right now i'm getting out of the military in
>about 1 month or so and I want custody of my child.  His
>mother is from the philippines, we have to leave japan.  But
>we're not staying together.  We don't have any paperwork at
>all stating anything about custody because we haven't went
>thru the divorce process yet.  My child is a US citizen with a
>US birth certificate and US passport.  Would I get into any
>legal trouble if I just told her I was going to take him with
>me back to the states?  Like I said we CAN'T stay in japan and
>my son either has to come with me or go with her.  
>
>Please help in any way you can.
>
>Thank you all in advance
>
>Aaron

Do you think that she really is going to agree to let you take her child away from her like that?

And your child could also be considered a citizen of the Phillipines as that is where his mother is a citizen.  It's called dual citizenship.  


BTW, who has been the primary caregiver?  If it has been her, then you most definitely should not take the baby from her.  Moving in itself is traumatic on an infant.  And to be removed from the primary caretaker will only make it worse.  

Personally, if I were you, I would discuss custody and how you can both be a part of the baby's life with the mother rather than just kidnapping him.