Divorces can get ugly, messy and downright hideous sometimes. This is usually the case when children are involved and one of the parents decides to take the children away from the other by kidnapping.

Parental kidnapping is a crime and it can land you in a lot of hot water as well as cause you to permenantly lose custody of your children when you’re found. It also causes untold strife and harm on the children. Psychologists say the affects of being torn from a parent can damage children forever. No matter how angry or upset you are DO NOT kidnap your child.

In Tennessee parental kidnapping is called custodial interference. Custodial interference is defined as the following:

The act of a natural or adoptive parent, step-parent, grandparent, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew of a child younger than eighteen years of age to:

• Remove the child from this state knowing that the removal violates a child custody determination, the rightful custody of a mother, or a temporary or permanent judgment or court order regarding the custody or care of the child;
• Detain the child within this state or remove the child from this state after the expiration of the noncustodial natural or adoptive parent or guardian’s lawful period of visitation, with the intent to violate the rightful custody of a mother, or a temporary or permanent judgment or a court order regarding the custody or care of the child;
• Harbor or hide the child within or outside this state, knowing that possession of the child was unlawfully obtained by another person in violation of the rightful custody of a mother, or a temporary or permanent judgment or a court order; or
• Act as an accessory to anything listed above. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-306 (2007).

It is also the offense of custodial interference for a natural or adoptive parent, step-parent, grandparent, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew of an incompetent person to:

• Remove the incompetent person from this state knowing that the removal violates a temporary or permanent judgment or a court order regarding the custody or care of the incompetent person;
• Harbor or hide the incompetent person within or outside this state, knowing that possession of the incompetent person was unlawfully obtained by another person in violation of a temporary or permanent judgment or a court order; or
• Act as an accessory to anything listed above. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-306 (2007).

It is a defense to custodial interference that the person who removed the child or incompetent person reasonably believed that the failure to remove the child or incompetent person would have resulted in a clear and present danger to the health, safety, or welfare of the child or incompetent person. It is also a defense to custodial interference that the individual detained or moved in contravention of the rightful custody of a mother, or of the order of custody or care, was returned by the defendant voluntarily and before arrest or the issuance of a warrant for arrest.

Custodial interference is a Class E felony, unless the person taken from lawful custody is returned voluntarily by the defendant, in which case custodial interference is a Class A misdemeanor.

 Thanks to our friends at the Tennessee criminal law blog for providing us with this information.