Can my daughter move out of state with her children

[chrigeor]

My daughter is in a really bad marriage and wants to leave her husband and move back to florida with her two children ages 4 & 15 months. Can she do this legally? She has no support system in Wisconsin. Her husband is very controlling and she is isolated there, while her husband is very verbally abusive to my daughter & the kids.

[Anonymous]

Your daughter can leave her husband with the kids, provided there is no court order that provides otherwise, BUT....

Minnesota has a rather broad statute which governs interference with parental rights, and care would have to be taken not to violate that statute through an interstate move; and

If her husband files for divorce in Wisconsin before she establishes domicile in Florida, she may have to litigate the custody issues in Wisconsin. And if she more or less takes off with the kids without letting him know what she is doing, a Wisconsin judge may very well hold that against her in those custody proceedings (even if the interference with parental rights statute does not directly apply). Depending upon state law and the circumstances, sometimes a judge will punish the absent parent by granting the local parent temporary custody.

So she should speak with a divorce lawyer about her situation before she decides to move to another state.