Hi All,
I have a good friend who is estranged from his family. I don’t know the complete details, but the question I have doesn’t really need them anyway. And I did ask him if this involved anything sexual, like inappropriate touching and he said no. (I would find that scenario impossible to believe, but I thought it important to ask.)
Anyway, my friend and his brother are not speaking and haven’t spoken for about 10 years now. My friend was very close to his brother’s children when the rift occurred, and the children were approximately 7 and 8 when this happened.
My friend’s nephew is going to be 18 later this year, graduating high school and all that, and he’s hoping he can now contact his nephew without getting himself in any legal trouble. He has truly missed his nephew and niece, but he’s also been careful not to try to reach out to either one of them until either one reaches his/her 18th birthday. It would be very embarrassing if his brother slapped him with a TRO, for example.
So my question is this. Does my friend have anything to worry about by contacting his nephew either on his 18th birthday, or on his high school graduation (the nephew will be 18 by then) ? My friend is not looking for any confrontation with his brother, or any problems at all. He just wants to wish his nephew happy birthday and congratulate him on graduation. Contact in this case could be a birthday card/letter, graduation card/letter, or maybe an email-facebook message. He also wants to visit in person at some point to let him know that the lack of contact was not the nephew’s fault and that he still loves him and his sister.
Does anyone know of any reasons that this could have legal ramifications?
Thanks,
SFP.