QUESTION
Is it possible to have my custody case moved to another state?
Asked on Aug 10th, 2016 on Child Custody - Oregon
More details to this question:
I have spent the last year living with my son and his father. He was very abusive and controlling and we were finally able to get out just over a month ago. We moved back home to another state where our entire family is. He has filed for joint custody and I am going to be filing a response within the next three weeks. If we have to go to court I will have to pull my son out of kindergarten, lose my job, and lose our new apartment. If things don't go as I hope at court, I will be forced to live in a shelter while he has our son. On the custody papers I was served with, he lied and claims that we have both lived with him for our son's entire life (5 years), when in reality we have only spent about two years living with him. He even went as far as to say that our son was born in some other state when he was actually born here. I have text message logs and recorded calls of him making violent threats to me and talking about leaving our son alone in a fit of rage and putting our small pets in the snow. What are the chances that I might be able to have the case moved? Is it possible that we might have to relocate and move back to such a toxic environment?
1 ANSWER
This set of facts raises an issue under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJEA) which has been adopted by 49 states, including Oregon, since 1997. Basically, the UCCJEA provides that court jurisdiction over custody matters is in the state and county where the child and the parents last lived for at least six months. This sounds like bad news for you, but you are not required to return to Oregon to live while the case is under way. You will need to file an appearance and response to his petition and appear for court hearings in the local court, but you can stay where you are while to case is under consideration until a custody decision is reached. On another point, in Oregon the courts cannot grant joint custody unless both parents stipulate to joint custody in writing. From the facts you have related, it appears that you have been the primary care provider for your son for his entire life and that you had good cause to get away from his father due to father?s behavior. In your response, you need to deny the idea of joint custody and ask the Court to award you sole custody of your son with appropriate parenting time with father (See Deschutes County Basic Parenting Plan on the court's website in the Forms section). You also need to retain a local attorney near the Court where the case has been filed so he or she does not have to bill you for very much travel time.
Answered on Sep 07th, 2016 at 6:37 PM