Sealed case question

[barbie77]

This is more of a hypothetical question that I am curious about. I read something on here and it has me wondering. An old friend of mine has had an exstensive past, assults, underages, felonies of some sorts. He also had charges that he beat for attempted murder, some serious things like that....He paid a lawyer a very large amount and had his entire record sealed and was told the only way a person could ever again look at it would be due to federal enditment. Since his record has been sealed he's had F.B.I. background checks for jobs and has been able to pass them without them finding anything.....Also by the way he's been out of trouble with the law since and has become a completely different person. I was reading a question oh here where a man had his case sealed but the family courts were able to reopen it would this be able to happen to this man if he went for custody of his child? I don't believe that the mother knows his record but just in case she would bring up the topic would they be able to look into his past? If they did would they have grounds to teminate his rights if they were able to unseal everything? Thank you for any ideas!

 

[jharris352]

They could sort of "unseal" his records if they knew about them by simply asking him about them and he would have to answer truthfully about them. Custody and parental rights are about what you have done lately, not what you did in a past life. Furthermore they are specifically about how your actions affected your child or children and not about the actions themselves.

For example, simple felony conviction and imprisonment even for violent or sexual crimes is not enough in and of itself to warrant Termination of Parental Rights. If the parent can show an interest in maintaining a bond with his child and that it is in the best interests of his child to maintain a bond then he has a decent chance of maintaining his rights (and that's for someone CURRENTLY convicted and in prison). Your friend only has old convictions and a new life. He has no concern about losing his children to old problems.

 

[barbie77]

Thank you very much! Very helpful!!