Grandma given custody due to lies Please help

[jlc614]

What is the name of your state? NY

Hello! This is actually not my situation but a friend I work with's. He had a daughter whom his ex had custody of until she was found unfit. At that time the grandmother (maternal) petitioned the courts for custody and notified them that she couldn't find the father. This was a lie because his mail had been and still is going to his mothers house and she did have this address. Furthermore child support payments were being taken out of his paycheck so support collections knew where he worked and did not try to contact him. Well anyway...grandma and child moved and up until about a month ago no one could find them. The family discovered where they were when the little girl stopped to talk an Aunt she recognized working in a store. The question is....how hard will it be for him to get custody of his child and also shouldn't the court have tried to contact him since they knew where he was working or at least informed grandma of this???? He has hired a lawyer and they have filed with the courts. I think he is just looking for some ideas from others that have dealt with family court at this time which is why he came to me??? Any help would be appreciated. By the way the child was taken from mom because mom's boyfriend was molesting the child and she was aware of it and did nothing.

 

[elismom]

that is terrible what happened to that child. it does seem kinda weird to me though that she could have gotten custody with out the father. I don't get that. I really don't have any advice for you, I just hope that everything works out and he gets his child.

 

[lcollins]

Unless he can be found unfit, there is no reason he shouldn't get custody. Usually a grandparent's rights do not supercede the rights of the parents. He stands a very good chance in my opinion. If no one knew where the child was, what happened to his visitation?

 

[ellencee]

That attorney he hired should be the one to hear his concern, his questions, etc. and should be the one to answer them! How else is the attorney going to adequately represent his interest without having this kind of a discussion about the issues?

Tell him to write down his questions in advance so he doesn't lose his train of thought and to write down the answers so he can read them when he starts worrying again.