I Don’t Want My Ex to See Our Kid. Can I Be Charged with a Crime for That?

Depriving a person of their right to custody or visitation may be a crime

I Don’t Want My Ex to See Our Kid. Can I Be Charged with a Crime for That?

Break ups are never fun. If you share kids with your ex, the situation becomes even more complicated. You may believe — and even be correct — that your ex doesn’t take good care of your kids, or even that they are harming your kids. But if there is a court order in place regarding custody and/or visitation, if you refuse to comply with it, you may be charged with a crime.

According to a criminal defense lawyer in Los Angeles, CA, deprivation of custody or visitation is a criminal offense that may be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony. It may be charged when a person:

  1. Takes, entices away, keeps, withholds, or conceals a child;
  2. The child is under the age of 18; and
  3. In doing so, maliciously deprives a lawful custodian of their right to custody or visitation.

This crime may also be considered child abduction or child detention.

Deprivation of custody or visitation can happen in a number of ways. For example, if your ex has custody on weekdays, and you show up at school, telling your child that you are taking them to Disney, you may be considered to have deprived your ex of custody by enticing your child. Even if you had legal custody of your child and you decide to keep or withhold them from your ex, you could be charged with this crime.

Importantly, to be charged with this offense, the other person must either be a lawful custodian of the child (i.e., has a legal right to custody) or have a legal right to visitation with the child. A person is a lawful custodian or has a legal right to visitation based on a court order.

However, you can only be convicted of this crime if you acted maliciously. This means that you must have acted intentionally to do something wrong, or with an intent to disturb, defraud, annoy or injury someone else. If you simply forget to drop off your child at the appointed time, or an emergency arises and you can’t get to the custody hand-off in time, then your criminal defense lawyer in Los Angeles, CA may use that as a defense to a charge of deprivation of custody.

This crime may result in a punishment of up to one year in county jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000 if charged as a misdemeanor. If it is charged as a felony, then you may be sentenced to up to 3 years in county jail and/or a fine of up to $10,000.

The Chambers Law Firm represents Californians who are facing criminal charges, from relatively minor offenses to capital crimes. For each case, we take a proactive approach to resolve the case in a way that is favorable for our clients. To learn more or to schedule a free consultation with a criminal defense lawyer in Los Angeles, CA, contact us at 714-760-4088 or dchambers@clfca.com.

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