§1857. Factors to determine risk of abduction
A. In determining whether there is a credible risk of abduction of a child, the court
shall consider all of the following factors and any evidence that the petitioner or respondent:
(1) Has previously abducted or attempted to abduct the child.
(2) Has threatened to abduct the child.
(3) Has recently engaged in activities that may indicate a planned abduction,
including any of the following:
(a) Abandoning employment.
(b) Selling a primary residence.
(c) Terminating a lease.
(d) Closing bank or other financial management accounts, liquidating assets, hiding
or destroying financial documents, or conducting any unusual financial activities.
(e) Applying for a passport or visa or obtaining travel documents for the respondent,
a family member, or the child.
(f) Seeking to obtain the child's birth certificate or school or medical records.
(4) Has engaged in domestic violence, stalking, or child abuse or neglect.
(5) Has refused to follow a child-custody determination.
(6) Lacks strong familial, financial, emotional, or cultural ties to the United States.
(7) Has strong familial, financial, emotional, or cultural ties to another country.
(8) Is likely to take the child to a country that either:
(a) Is not a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child
Abduction and does not provide for the extradition of an abducting parent or for the return
of an abducted child.
(b) Is a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child
Abduction but either:
(i) The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction is
not in force between the United States and that country.
(ii) Is noncompliant according to the most recent compliance report issued by the
United States Department of State.
(iii) Lacks legal mechanisms for immediately and effectively enforcing a return order
under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
(c) Poses a risk that the child's physical or emotional health or safety would be
endangered in the country because of specific circumstances relating to the child or because
of human rights violations committed against children.
(d) Has laws or practices that would either:
(i) Enable the respondent, without due cause, to prevent the petitioner from
contacting the child.
(ii) Restrict the petitioner from freely traveling to or exiting from the country because
of the petitioner's sex, nationality, marital status, or religion.
(iii) Restrict the child's ability legally to leave the country after the child reaches the
age of majority because of a child's sex, nationality, or religion.
(e) Is included by the United States Department of State on a current list of state
sponsors of terrorism.
(f) Does not have an official United States diplomatic presence in the country.
(g) Is engaged in active military action or war, including a civil war, to which the
child may be exposed.
(9) Is undergoing a change in immigration or citizenship status that would adversely
affect the respondent's ability to remain in the United States legally.
(10) Has had an application for United States citizenship denied.
(11) Has forged or presented misleading or false evidence on government forms or
supporting documents to obtain or attempt to obtain a passport, a visa, travel documents, a
Social Security card, a driver's license, or other government-issued identification card or has
made a misrepresentation to the United States government.
(12) Has used multiple names to attempt to mislead or defraud.
(13) Has engaged in any other conduct the court considers relevant to the risk of
abduction.
B. In the hearing on a petition under this Part, the court shall consider any evidence
that the respondent believed in good faith that his conduct was necessary to avoid imminent
harm to the child or himself and any other evidence that may be relevant to whether he may
be permitted to remove or retain the child.
Acts 2007, No. 369, §1; Acts 2026, No. 814, §7.