Out of State Travel With Kids

It’s summer time, the kids are out and it’s vacation time!

It’s also that time I get many parents calling me asking if they can legally take their kids out of the county, state or country without getting into trouble by the other parent.  Their concerns are very legitimate, especially since California has serious parental kidnapping laws (California Penal Code Section 278).  In general terms, the kidnapping laws provide that a parent cannot maliciously remove children from the other parent if their rights have been terminated, restricted or in violation of some court order.

Basically if there are no restrictions or court orders in place to establish custody, both parents have 100% rights over their children and can object to the other parent’s request to travel with the kids.  It is possible for the objecting parent to call law enforcement if they believe they have been denied their parental rights to access when the other parent takes the children against their wishes.

To avoid this problem, it is always best to seek court intervention.  By obtaining a custody and visitation order, you can make sure the court approves a reasonable request for travel.  In most cases, the court may allow the travel so long as the other parent is notified in advance when the children will be travelling.  If you are able to formulate a specific parenting schedule where you know future dates, you can have those in your order and can possibly avoid having to provide notification altogether.  If there are any violations to the orders, you can seek court enforcement or law enforcement in cases where there is no compliance.

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