Indiana Child Custody: Custody Bonds

For those subscribing to the e-mail subscription service, you may notice a trend here about bonds. (For those wanting to subscribe via e-mail, there is a link to the right which explains how to do this). My only explanation is that the General Assembly wrote the laws and I have no idea why they thought bonds were such a great idea.

Separate statutes exist for paternity and divorce cases. They have the same language and I am quoting only from the paternity statutes to save space.

31-14-13-6.5 Security, bond, or guarantee
The court may provide in:
(1) a custody order; or
(2) a modification of a custody order; for the security, bond, or other guarantee that is satisfactory to the court to secure enforcement of the custody order.

(For divorce cases, see IC 31-17-2-21.5).

As I mentioned in, these bonds suffer from the great weakness of needing a party with the finances to pay for a bond. IC 31-14-1.5-1 requires the bond to be a property bond or a surety bond from a commercial insurance company. (For divorce cases follow this link). Then come even more limitations come from the custody bond statutes own requirements.

IC 31-14-13-6.7
Security, bond, or guarantee; determinations

(a) The court shall consider requiring security, a bond, or another guarantee under section 6.5 of this chapter if the court makes a finding under subdivision (1), (2), (4), or (7) by clear and convincing evidence. If the court makes a finding under subdivision (1), (2), (4), or (7), the court shall also consider subdivisions (3), (5), (6), (8), and (9) in determining the amount of security, bond, or other guarantee. In making a determination under this section, the court shall consider the following:

(1) Whether a party has previously taken a child out of Indiana or another state in violation of a custody, parenting time, or visitation order.
(2) Whether a party has previously threatened to take a child out of Indiana or another state in violation of a custody, parenting time, or visitation order.
(3) Whether a party has strong ties to Indiana.
(4) Whether a party:

(A) is a citizen of another country;
(B) has strong emotional or cultural ties to the other country; and
(C) has indicated or threatened to take a child out of Indiana to the other country.

(5) Whether a party has friends or family living outside Indiana.
(6) Whether a party does not have a financial reason to stay in Indiana, such as whether the party is unemployed, able to work anywhere, or is financially independent.
(7) Whether a party has engaged in planning that would facilitate removal from Indiana, such as quitting a job, selling the party's primary residence, terminating a lease, closing an account, liquidating other assets, hiding or destroying documents, applying for a passport, applying for a birth certificate, or applying for school or medical records.
(8) Whether a party has a history of marital instability, a lack of parental cooperation, domestic violence, or child abuse.
(9) Whether a party has a criminal record. After considering evidence, the court shall issue a written determination of security, bond, or other written guarantee supported by findings of fact and conclusions of law.(b) If a motion for change of judge or change of venue is filed, the court may, before a determination of change of judge or change of venue, consider security, bond, or other guarantee under this chapter.

(For the divorce analog see IC 31-17-2-21.7).

Whether a bond will deter the type of behavior which seems the object of the statute may be open to question. I suggest that some of this depends on the size of the bond and the liquidity of the person posting the bond and their rationality.

Remember, if you want more information about retaining me for a case, please give me a call at 765-641-7906.