An emergency custody motion is the fastest tool an Oklahoma father has when a child is in danger, and the most expensive one to misuse. Under 43 O.S. § 107.4, a Tulsa County judge must hear a properly supported emergency custody motion within 72 hours, and can move a child out of a dangerous household on an interim basis before the other parent has presented a full case. The same statute makes a father who files on false information pay the other side’s costs and attorney fees. Dads.Law represents fathers on both sides of that motion: dads who need to get a child out of an unsafe home this week, and dads who have just been served with an emergency order built on exaggerated or invented allegations.

When Emergency Custody Applies in Tulsa County

Emergency custody is not a shortcut for a parent who wants a better schedule. It exists for a narrow set of facts: the child is in surroundings that endanger his or her safety, and if those conditions continue the child is likely to suffer irreparable harm. In practice, Tulsa County judges grant emergency motions for things like a parent’s overdose or arrest while caring for the child, a documented domestic violence incident in the child’s presence, a DHS finding that the home is unsafe, abandonment, a parent who has disappeared with the child, or a credible threat to remove the child from the state in violation of an order. They deny motions that describe an ordinary custody dispute in urgent language. A father who is worried about the other parent’s new partner, a dirty house, or missed visitation usually needs a modification or an enforcement motion, not an emergency filing, and choosing the wrong vehicle costs money and credibility.

What Oklahoma Law Requires: 43 O.S. § 107.4

Before 2010 there was no statute for emergency custody hearings; courts improvised under the ex parte provisions of 43 O.S. § 110. The legislature then added § 107.4, which sets the rules a Tulsa father has to meet:

  • An independent report, or an affidavit. The motion must include an independent report, such as a police report or a report from DHS, that demonstrates the child is in surroundings that endanger the child’s safety and that continuing those conditions would likely subject the child to irreparable harm. If no report exists, the motion must include an affidavit from a person with personal knowledge of those conditions. An affidavit that repeats what the father was told by someone else is not enough.
  • A hearing within 72 hours. After the motion is filed, the court must hold a hearing within 72 hours. If it does not, the father can present the motion to the presiding judge of the judicial district, who must hold a hearing within 24 hours.
  • Consequences for false information. If the court finds that any of the information it relied on in making the emergency decision was false, it must assess the moving party all costs, attorney fees, and other expenses caused by the hearing, payable within 30 days and enforceable by contempt. The Court of Civil Appeals in Gruenwald v. Gruenwald, 2014 OK CIV APP 43, reversed a fee award where the trial court never found the supporting affidavits false, so the sanction is real but it requires a finding of falsity, not just a lost motion.

An emergency order is temporary. It changes where the child lives until the court can hold a fuller hearing, and the permanent decision is still governed by the best-interests standard in 43 O.S. § 109 and, in an existing case, by the change-of-circumstances rule of Gibbons v. Gibbons, 1968 OK 77. Fathers who win an emergency order still have to win the case that follows it.

Evidence a Father Needs Before Filing

Because the statute demands an independent report or first-hand affidavit, the first job is the record, not the pleading. If police responded, get the incident number and request the report. If DHS was involved, ask for the referral outcome. Photographs with timestamps, medical records, school incident reports, text messages from the other parent, and the names of the neighbors, teachers, or relatives who personally saw the conditions all matter. A father should also be ready to show the court what he is offering: a safe home, a school plan, child care during work hours, and a proposed schedule for the other parent’s contact, supervised if necessary. Judges are more willing to move a child to a parent who has already solved the next two weeks than to one who has only described the problem.

If You Have Been Served With an Emergency Order

Emergency orders are sometimes used as a weapon, filed the week before a custody trial or right after a father asks for more time. If you have been served, the order is in effect whether or not it is fair, and the hearing is days away. Do not contact the other parent to argue about it, do not pick the child up from school in defiance of the order, and do not post about it. Gather the records that answer the allegations one by one: your own messages, your location and work records, witnesses who were present, and any history of prior unfounded reports. The 72-hour hearing is your first chance to be heard, and it is often decided on which parent shows up with documents. If the allegations are shown to be false, ask the court for your costs and fees under § 107.4, and remember that 43 O.S. § 107.3 separately allows fees against a parent who intentionally makes false allegations of abuse or neglect in a custody case.

Emergency Custody and Protective Orders

An emergency custody motion is filed in the family case and decides where the child lives for now. A protective order is a separate civil case under 22 O.S. § 60 and following that restrains one adult from contacting another, and it cannot decide custody, although it can temporarily suspend visitation. Mothers sometimes file both on the same day. A father facing that combination needs one strategy for both courtrooms, because a finding of domestic violence in either case creates a presumption against custody under 43 O.S. § 109(I). Our statewide guide to protective order defense explains the second half of that problem.

How Dads.Law Handles Emergency Custody in Tulsa

Emergency motions are filed at the Tulsa County Courthouse and assigned to the family docket, and the 72-hour clock means the motion, the report or affidavit, the proposed order, and the witness list have to be ready together. When a father calls us about a child in danger, we assess whether the facts meet the statute, obtain the police or DHS report, prepare the affidavits from people with first-hand knowledge, and file the same day when the facts support it. When a father has been served, we prepare his response and evidence for the hearing and, where the filing was built on false statements, pursue fees. Either way, the emergency hearing is prepared as the first round of the custody case, because that is what it is.

Frequently Asked Questions

How fast can a Tulsa court hear an emergency custody motion?

Within 72 hours of filing under 43 O.S. § 107.4, and within 24 hours before the presiding judge if the assigned judge does not hold the hearing in time.

Can I file for emergency custody without a police or DHS report?

Yes, if the motion includes an affidavit from someone with personal knowledge of the dangerous conditions. Second-hand accounts do not satisfy the statute.

What happens if the other parent lied to get an emergency order?

If the court finds it relied on false information, it must order the parent who filed to pay your costs, attorney fees, and expenses from the hearing within 30 days. Fees for false abuse allegations may also be available under 43 O.S. § 107.3.

Does winning an emergency order mean I have custody?

No. It is a temporary order. Permanent custody, or a modification of an existing order, is decided later under the best-interests factors and, in an existing case, the Gibbons change-of-circumstances standard.

Should I use an emergency motion to fix a visitation problem?

Usually not. Withheld visitation, schedule disputes, and concerns about the other home that do not involve immediate danger are handled by enforcement or modification motions. Filing an emergency motion on those facts risks a fee award against you.

Talk With a Tulsa Emergency Custody Lawyer for Fathers

If a child is in danger, or you have just been served, the hearing is days away and the record has to be built now. Call (918) 984-9424. Phones are answered 24 hours a day; office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, at 2226 S 92nd E Ave, Tulsa, OK 74129. You can also contact us online. Fathers in Oklahoma County can reach our Oklahoma City emergency custody attorneys.

Sources: 43 O.S. §§ 107.3, 107.4, 109, 110; 22 O.S. § 60 et seq.; Gruenwald v. Gruenwald, 2014 OK CIV APP 43; Gibbons v. Gibbons, 1968 OK 77. This page is legal information for Oklahoma fathers, not legal advice about a specific case. Last reviewed September 2026.