Father Seeking Sole Legal Decision-Making Authority of Daughter Who Was Taken to Mexico

Arizona residents may be interested to learn of a case that recently made headlines involving a 4-year-old child who was taken to Mexico by her mother, without the knowledge or consent of her father. No parent should ever experience the nightmare of waking up to find that their child has been taken by their spouse. However, these incidents do unfortunately occur sometimes in Parenting Time disputes.

Luckily for the father in this case, the mother was apprehended by law enforcement. She was able to cross in and out of the border at least three times undetected, but was finally caught at the border and has been charged with interference with legal decision-making authority, which is a felony charge. The mother also reportedly had drug paraphernalia in her possession. The father was reportedly annoyed that an AMBER alert was not issued when he first reported the incident. The local sheriff explained that it is not normal procedure to issue an AMBER alert in legal decision-making authority disputes.

The father of the child is now seeking sole legal decision-making authority. He currently has primary legal decision-making authority of the child and his ex-wife is allowed supervised visitation, provided that her 18-year-old half-sister is present during visits.

It is difficult to obtain sole legal decision-making authority of a child, and such an order is usually only granted under extreme circumstances of neglect or abuse. It is possible that the father in this case may be granted sole legal decision-making authority, based on the behavior of the mother. However, the judge will ultimately decide the issue by determining what is in the best interests of the minor child. Issues involving Parenting Time, visitation rights and child support can be emotionally charged and particularly complex. Getting the right information can help a parent get the best possible outcome in these types of cases.

Source: libertytribune.com, “Father seeks Legal Decision-Making Authority of child after mother heads for the border,” Angie Anaya Borgedalen, Jan. 24, 2013