Moving Away in Violation of a Custody Order's Notice Provision

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: California

My fiancé is pregnant. I am the father of the kid. My fiancé has already a daughter from her first marriage.

Unfortunately, I am not a US citizen nor I am a green card holder. Even if I apply for a immigrant visa, I would not get it in time to return to be with my fiancé when the child is born. There is a certain risk that in her high pregnancy time, she is alone. Apart from that, she faces serious financial issues as she can't afford to pay the rent when he has to stop work in order the child gets born.

We know that it is illegal to move away without the consent of the father of the first-born kid and take the first born kid with her. But what if the whole situation requires that my fiancé moves for a certain time to her home country, where she has her parents to support her with the childbirth of the second kid. My fiancé respects the rights of the father of the first born kid and would return in a reasonable time after the kid is born.

Is there a way the father can prevent this? His daughter is not used to him as he sees her irregularly and he also would not want to take care for her, while the mother is away.

Thank you!

Why can't she allow Dad to have custody?

You're not talking an interstate move - you're talking about moving to a different country. Sorry, but the court isn't going to punish Dad for Mom's mistakes.

To add more details here:
1. In the past, the father met his daughter occasionally based on his irregular requests. He often canceled meet ups. He often said that he just want to play with her.
2. The father does not want to take care of the child, if the mother is away for up to four month. His position is simply he does want to see her sometimes, but not to be responsible for her.
3. The father does not pay any child support for the kid. All the costs are with the mother, which is one cause of her financial problem.

All the above mentioned item can be proven.

The mother is also prepared to guarantee that she will come back. She will be staying in the country she was born in. It would also be possible for the parents of the father(who still live there) to see the child. There are many ways to guarantee that she will return.

It is very clear that if the father would have kept all his duties, there would be no justification to leave the country for any emergencies without his permission.

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Quoting StefP

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To add more details here:
1. In the past, the father met his daughter occasionally based on his irregular requests. He often canceled meet ups. He often said that he just want to play with her.
2. The father does not want to take care of the child, if the mother is away for up to four month. His position is simply he does want to see her sometimes, but not to be responsible for her.
3. The father does not pay any child support for the kid. All the costs are with the mother, which is one cause of her financial problem.

All the above mentioned item can be proven.

The mother is also prepared to guarantee that she will come back. She will be staying in the country she was born in. It would also be possible for the parents of the father(who still live there) to see the child. There are many ways to guarantee that she will return.

It is very clear that if the father would have kept all his duties, there would be no justification to leave the country for any emergencies without his permission.

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Has she already discussed it with him? Has he already objected? If his parents are going to be able to spend some time with the child as well, how does she know that he will object?

They will talk. It is very clear, that if he says that he will take care for her or is willing to help out financially, that there is no way she could argue a temporary move.

The question is: Would she have the right to leave, if he says: I don't want to be responsible for her in case leave, but I don't want you to leave because then I can't see her.

As soon as she takes the child, he can file for full custody most likely. Has he been established as child's legal father? Are visitation orders or child support court ordered?

He is the legal father, there are no visitation or child support ordered.

If she leaves, he can file for full custody and return of the kids.

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Quoting StefP

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He is the legal father, there are no visitation or child support ordered.

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Quoting Disagreeable

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If she leaves, he can file for full custody and return of the kids.

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He can...but apparently that is NOT what he wants. Here is where I think that everyone is ignoring an important fact. Dad cannot say no to a temporary move unless he is willing to take full time responsibility for the child.

If mom asks him in the right way, making it clear that the temporary move benefits his parents as well as her, then he might be ok with it.

Yes, she is free to temporarily relocate (because there are no orders). Yes, he could immediately rush and file for custody and attempt to get her ordered to return the child. However, he is only going to do that if he actually WANTS custody.

If you have notice, you can oppose the relocation of the children even if you're not requesting custody. Were that to happen, mom could up the ante by saying, "Dad can have custody during my absence," but mom would be taking the risk that dad might say, "Okay."

If mom takes the kids to another country without going through the court, dad can potentially move to enforce parenting time provisions or ask for a show cause hearing asking the court to hold mom in contempt for violating the restriction on relocation and refusing him his court-ordered parenting time, without asking for a custody change.