24 Oct Is It Legal for My Ex to Track Me During Parenting Time?
Anyone who has gone through a divorce that involves kids knows exactly how stressful the situation can be for everyone. You don’t want your kids exposed to any ugliness, but sometimes it’s impossible to shelter them, especially if you and your ex are engaged in a contentious child custody arrangement.
In addition to having to worry about how you’re going to coordinate schedules and remain civil to your ex while you’re exchanging kids, now you have to worry about GPS tracking. As tracking devices become more readily available and technology continues to improve, there have been stories about how one parent decided to use tracking technology to monitor the other parent during their parenting time.
If you suspect that your ex is tracking your parenting time or you’re thinking about monitoring your ex when they are with the kids, you should know, that doing so is illegal in California.
At this time California is considered a dual consent state which means that the only way you can legally use GPS tracking to monitor your former partner’s parenting time is with your ex’s consent. If you’re caught monitoring your ex’s parenting time without their consent, not only is any information you collect null and void should you present it to the court, but you’ll also likely face criminal charges, which could jeopardize both your freedom and your current custody arrangement.
There are times when GPS tracking is used to monitor a parent’s time with their kids, but it is always with the court’s consent. The most common example of this happening is when there is evidence to suggest that your ex could remove the children from the court’s jurisdiction without permission.
If you feel that there is a valid reason why your ex should be tracked while they are with the kids, it’s in your best interest to handle the situation by going through legal channels. Present the court with the evidence that they should be tracked, just be careful that you don’t do anything that could be considered stalking while you gather your evidence. It’s also important that you don’t bug your kids until they say what you want them to.