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Hi everyone, I’m Dr. Michael Mantell with another Family Law Matters with Bonnie Rabinovitch Mantel who is the owner and managing partner of the Primus Family Law Group. Hi, Bonnie. Hi, Michael.

How are you doing today? Doing well, doing very well. Thank you. Bonnie, it’s been a while since you’ve clarified something.

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Oh, yes. I’m going to let you do it. Okay, sure.

My turn this time. For all of our people who watch us out there, I know that it looks like Dr. Mantel and I have the same last name. We don’t.

There’s an extra L in Dr. Mantel’s because he’s lacking a little, so he needs a little extra L, a little extra point in his name. But we are not related. We are very, very best of friends, but we are not related.

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No, we’re not. But Bonnie, you do have two Ns in your first name, just pointing that out. And no, we’re not related.

But as you said, we’re good buddies. Okay, listen. And our spouses are good buddies with each other as well, right? Yeah.

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And they are not related. No, I don’t think so. Bonnie, today I want to talk about a very hot topic.

One that many people don’t really pay attention to because they think, oh, it doesn’t really happen. But boy, does it ever happen. And the topic is parental kidnapping.

This sounds like a horrendous, horrific, remarkably bad situation for a child. But some parents don’t care. They care about themselves.

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So let’s start by first clarifying, what does parental kidnapping involve? People get it wrong. People think that just if you’re withholding a child from the other parent, that’s parental kidnapping. That’s not.

That is withholding the child from the other parent. And that sometimes may be valid if there are safety concerns with the child and the other parent. Obviously, you can’t withhold a child for very long.

You need to go, you need to get a court order if there are safety concerns so that you can keep custody of the child. Parental kidnapping is when you take the child more than likely across state lines with the intention of fleeing and not sharing your location with the other parent. And it may not be for safety concerns because of the other parent.

More often than not, Michael, it’s custodial advantage concerns. I’m going to grab the kid. I’m going to go to another location.

I’m going to file some dummy fraudulent thing over there. They don’t know what’s going on. They’re going to issue some emergency order.

And that starts the process of this poor parent trying to figure out where their kid is and then trying to figure out how to get their child back. And so, yeah, we do have those cases. Unfortunately, we do have parents who will not follow court orders, are not interested in the other parent having any involvement, all because they want to have control.

Because they are mentally disordered, because they are sociopaths, because they don’t care about the child, because they want only what’s good for them. See, I can’t say those words because I’m not a doctor. But I can say those words.

And I think that when we say that they’re not interested in, we make it sound nice. This is not nice. This is remarkably abusive and harmful.

And so parental kidnapping is certainly an issue that needs much more attention. And I know that you work with a number of cases of this and have not, I wouldn’t say a specialty, but you certainly have a special interest in this area. We care because it’s, you know, the court makes orders.

If there aren’t orders, and you’re trying to get orders, having one party just think that they’re above the law, it’s untenable. And it’s not how we’re supposed to act in a community of reasonable adults. Eloquent.

Bonnie, if people have questions about this, and I hope no one has a question about this remarkably difficult situation, but people will. If you feel your child is a victim of parental kidnapping, or grandchild, or someone you know, and they want more information from you, how can they get that? They can reach out to us directly at 619-574-8000. And you will be placed on my calendar for a free 30 minute phone consultation.

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Or you can reach us online at www.PrimusFamilyLaw.com. And you can fill out a form with whatever family law matter you may have. And you will get a free 30 minute phone consultation. This is one of those really, I hate to use the word, but ugly parts of family breakdown, divorce, and so forth.

And your caring, concern, compassionate approach to this certainly leaves me feeling good about what can be. So thank you very much. We’ll see you next time for another Family Law Matters.

Thanks, Michael. Have a great day.