When Your Parents Want Your Child

Once upon a time there was a quiet, kind-hearted, pretty girl named Grace.  Grace grew up to be a veterinary assistant.  She loved dogs, cats and bunnies.  Grace fell in love with a handsome charmer named Inadequate.  Grace got pregnant.  She was so happy, so excited to have a baby.  Before the baby was born Inadequate beat the crap out of Grace.  He went to jail for a long time, exit Inadequate. 

Grace moved in with her parents.  Jason was born.  Grace’s parents loved Jason.  Years passed, Grace fell in love with Eric, a kind and gentle man.  Eric got a job offer in California.  Eric asked Grace to marry him and move to California.  Grace said yes.  Grace’s parents were not pleased.  They loved living with their grandson and watching him grow.  They did not want him in California.  Grace’s parents tried to convince Grace moving to California was crazy.  When that did not work they asked her to leave Jason with them, until she was settled in a home.  Grace loved her parents and agreed, and off she went with Eric.

Within weeks Grace’s parents told her Jason needed dental surgery, nothing serious, but she needed to sign papers giving them custody of Jason for surgery.  Grace readily agreed.  Grace loved and trusted her parents, look at all they did for her.   

A couple months later Grace told her parents she was coming for Jason.  Her parents asked could she please wait until Christmas?  It was only six weeks away.  They could celebrate as a family and then she could leave with Jason.  Grace said okay. 

As Grace and Eric prepared to leave California Grace’s parents told her not to come.  They were not going to let her take Jason.  Jason needed to stay with them through the school year.  Grace was very, very angry, but she complied.  The school year ended and Grace’s parents would not allow her to get her child.  As a matter of fact, they had a court order giving them custody. 

Grace hired an attorney who asked for Jason.  Grace’s parents responded Grace was a terrible mother, who abandoned Jason.  As a result, Jason suffered numerous, serious, psychological disorders. 

Grace sued her parents.  It took a year for that case to get through the court system culminating in a one-day trial.  Grace parents paid for psychologists and a psychiatrist to testify how damaged Jason was by his mother’s abandonment.  This included numerous dangerous specific instances of acting out in anger.  Jason was on psychotropic drugs. 

Grace won.  Her lawyer told her, “Get your son.  Get out of Florida and do not come back.” 

Since that trial the presumption under Florida law changed.  At the time it was parental reunification, now it’s best interests of the child.  I doubt the lawyer would win the case if it was tried today with the testimony of the mother conflicting with the testimony of her parents and doctors.

Jason lives happily in California with Grace and Eric, who have other children and live as happily ever after as any happy two wage-earning family does.

The best way to solve a legal problem is to prevent it before it happens.  Some of the best things about being a lawyer are the relationships you develop with people, making a positive difference in your client’s life and learning from deep personal knowledge of other people’s problems.