Understanding Emergency Custody Situations
What do you do if you feel like you have an emergency custody situation during the holidays? I’m Tulsa family law attorney Carl Birkhead with Wirth Law Office in Oklahoma. I want to help you make law easy by talking about emergency custody and how it kind of interplays with the holidays. A lot of times I’ll see cases like this pop up around Christmas break, Thanksgiving break, spring break, and summer break.
Usually, if there’s a parent who is thinking that they might need to file something, they’re going to want to try to do it over the holidays when the child’s not in school, so that way it doesn’t mess up their schedule quite as much. Because pulling emergency custody is very jarring to a child. It’s a complete and total reversal of where they’re living with, and which parent they’re going to be with. There’s a lot that goes into it.
Criteria for Emergency Custody
So, to be able to get an emergency custody order, you have to show that your child is in immediate danger of irreparable harm. And you have to be able to show that based on personal knowledge or based on sworn documentation from DHS or sworn documentation from law enforcement. It’s very difficult to get those last two, so 99% of the emergency custody cases that I’ve seen have been based on personal knowledge of someone who has seen the child be abused, neglected, seen them in a situation where if they remain with the parent that you’re pulling custody from, they would suffer immediate and irreparable harm.
That doesn’t mean that you can take something that you saw like two years ago and say we saw this happen back then, but we still think it’s happening right now, so we want emergency custody right now. No. It has to be fresh. It has to be new. The longer that you wait after seeing something that you think would justify getting emergency custody, the more stale that incident gets and the less weight it’s going to carry with the court.
Timing and Decision Making
I caution my clients in these situations, that you do not want to pull the trigger unless you’re certain that the child is going to be in danger if they stay where they’re at. If it’s something where you think a child is very seriously in danger, absolutely contact a lawyer, file for emergency custody, and try to do it in as least traumatic way possible for the child, but you have to be certain because the judge is going to review your pleadings within a day of you filing it.
After that, the court’s going to have a hearing on that within 10 days. Let’s say just for even numbers, you file for emergency custody the day of Christmas break, you’re going to be in court with your lawyer, with them, with their lawyer before Christmas break is even over with. If you can’t show what you’re alleging has happened if you don’t have evidence and documentation to back it up, the child’s most likely going to be going back to the parent that you took them from and all you’ve succeeded in is messing up their holidays.
Contact Us for Guidance
Getting emergency custody is important and it’s serious. I always encourage people to do it because you have to protect your kids, but make sure that you are certain that it is the right move. If you have questions about this, definitely give us a call. I’m Tulsa family lawyer Carl Birkhead with Wirth Law Office, and I want to help make law easy.
Schedule Your Initial Strategy Session Today
If you’re facing a potential emergency custody situation during the holidays, don’t hesitate to reach out for professional legal guidance. Call us today at 918-879-1681 to schedule a low-cost initial strategy session and ensure the safety and well-being of your child.
