Interference with custody
This law is about taking a child or other person away from whoever a court said should have them. If someone takes or tricks that person away from their legal caregiver — and knows they have no right to do it — that is a crime. It is a minor crime (misdemeanor) if it stays in Missouri, but a more serious crime (felony) if the person is taken out of the state or hidden. A judge can also make the person who broke the law pay back any money the legal caregiver spent trying to find or get the child back.
Classifications stated in the statute. Actual outcomes vary.
565.150. — . — 1. A person commits the of interference with custody if, knowing that he or she has no to do so, he or she takes or from any person entrusted by of a court to the of another person or institution.
2. The offense of interference with custody is a unless the person taken or enticed away from legal custody is from this state, in another state or concealed, in which case it is a .
3. Upon a for an offense under this section, the court may, in addition to or any sentence or fine imposed, as against the and in favor of the or parent, any reasonable expenses incurred by the legal custodian or parent in searching for or returning the child.
Tap any gold-underlined word to see what it means.
Source & history notes
(L. 1977 S.B. 60, A.L. 1988 H.B. 1272, et al., A.L. 2014 S.B. 491) Effective 1-01-17 (1984) "Takes...from lawful custody" is construed to include unlawful retention of any person following a period of temporary lawful custody. State v. Edmisten (Mo.App.), 674 S.W.2d 576.
Legal information, not legal advice. Always confirm with the official source at revisor.mo.gov.