Help for a young father

[phernand]

Hello,

I need some advice on what to do when a mother just picks up a leaves with the child. She was supposed to have dropped off my little girl Friday December 30 but she never showed up. I tried calling her many times but she never picked up.

I also tried calling her sister and mother they too did not pick up. I tried for a couple of months before this happened to get an agreement out of her but she did not want to go forward with it so there is no court order or agreement in place. The following week after december 30th I went and filed for custody in MD court hoping that it will help get my little girl back.

My question is what will happen if they cannot find her to serve her and how hard is it going to be for me to get my daughter back. I think she went to Florida because that's where her mother and father live but there is no way of me finding out. If she did go down there and filed for custody down there will she get it? I just want to know the process on how all this custody works and about my chances of getting her back. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I am also in the process of getting a lawyer soon but I thought I'd check this out first.

Thanks

[socrateaser]

>My question is what will happen if they cannot find her to
>serve her and how hard is it going to be for me to get my
>daughter back. I think she went to Florida because that's
>where her mother and father live but there is no way of me
>finding out. If she did go down there and filed for custody
>down there will she get it? I just want to know the process on
>how all this custody works and about my chances of getting her
>back. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

In the future, please post according to the mandatory guidelines or I won't respond.

Since you apparently were never married to the mother and you didn't file for custody, you have no rights to custody, and the mother is free to move with the child at her leisure. Now that you have filed, you must personally serve the mother, or convince the court to allow you to serve by publication in a newspaper because you have diligently tried and failed to locate her. The court won't grant this request until you've made an attempt to serve her in FL.

The problem will be that the child is now in FL and MD will probably not assert jurisdiction, thus you will be forced to deal with the case in FL. Frankly, you are probably better off just filing in FL, when you find the mother, because it will be easier to enforce your rights where the court and the Sheriff have direct access to the mother and child.

Had you managed to serve the mother prior to her move away, you could have forced her return, but under the circumstances, I think you'll have trouble doing so, and that you will waste money on a MD attorney, that you could save for a FL attorney.

I wouldn't withdraw your petition in MD, though. It will expire if you never manage to serve the other parent within the required statute of limitations. Meanwhile, if she surfaces in MD again, you will have filed, and you can serve her.