In New Jersey, interfering with child custody can be a crime. It doesn’t matter if you are a custodial parent, grandparent or noncustodial parent, this law can affect you.
If you are in a custody or visitation situation, you need to be aware of what is they consider a crime when it comes to custody interference.
Interfering with custody
Once the courts issue a temporary or permanent custody order, you cannot hide a child from someone who has custody or is the child’s legal guardian. If you hide them by taking them out of the country or for longer than 24 hours, you will be guilty of a second-degree crime. This can also happen if you are in divorce proceedings before the court grants an order.
Interfering with parenting time
Interfering with parenting time is also a criminal act according to New Jersey law. Once custody and visitation are in place, you cannot do anything to interfere with the time each parent has with the child. Although the law allows for some miscommunication, a parent can report it if they cannot remedy it themselves.
Sometimes you cannot help it if a noncustodial parent misses visitation. In this case, additional visitation is in order. You can avoid this by establishing clear, nonconfrontational lines of communication. Not exercising visitation or parenting time is also a crime.
You can easily remedy these situations but if they become severe, you have legal recourse. These circumstances can lead to losing visitation, custody or your rights. New Jersey takes child custody very seriously.
