The last thing you may feel like doing after going through a difficult marriage and a subsequent divorce is being supportive of your ex-spouse. However, if you have children together, that's precisely what you need to do if you want to convince a judge to give you custody.
You can lose custody and your freedom for parental kidnapping
Many parents don't realize that they can be arrested and charged with kidnapping their own child. However, the law in California is very clear: If you withhold a child from his or her lawful custodian or legal guardian, that's a crime -- even if you are the child's biological parent. This is usually referred to as a "parental abduction."
