Adoption Jurisdicton

[Chester]

I just moved from Florida to Kentucky. I am in the military and live with my wife and 3 step-children. We want to file Step-Parent Adoption papers but don't know what the jurisdiction is...to file in Florida or Kentucky? Nobody knows and we will lose our filing fee if we file in the wrong jurisdiction. We have only lived in Kentucky for 4 months but all visitation and child support cases have taken place in Florida. Can you help us?

 

[seniorjudge]

I just moved from Florida to Kentucky. I am in the military and live with my wife and 3 step-children. We want to file Step-Parent Adoption papers but don't know what the jurisdiction is...to file in Florida or Kentucky? Nobody knows and we will lose our filing fee if we file in the wrong jurisdiction. We have only lived in Kentucky for 4 months but all visitation and child support cases have taken place in Florida. Can you help us?

Ask a family law attorney in Kentucky...that should answer your questions.

 

[CMSC]

I just moved from Florida to Kentucky. I am in the military and live with my wife and 3 step-children. We want to file Step-Parent Adoption papers but don't know what the jurisdiction is...to file in Florida or Kentucky? Nobody knows and we will lose our filing fee if we file in the wrong jurisdiction. We have only lived in Kentucky for 4 months but all visitation and child support cases have taken place in Florida. Can you help us?

We have had a similar issue with jurisdiction in Kentucky, your best bet is to contact several Kentucky and Florida attorney's and get their opinion. I can tell you right now 9 out of the 10 attorneys you contact in Kentucky will state Florida has jurisdiction but Florida will tell you different. I'd recommend getting your court order for visitation/custody registered in Kentucky and go from there.
You are not considered a resident of Kentucky until you've lived here for 6 months but not certain if that applies to military or not. Maybe a stupid question but I always thought there was some sort of legal aide department in the military that could answer your questions. We had friends consult an attorney in on their base when they went through a custody matter.

 

[haiku]

normally adoptions take place in the state the children have established residency in. It does not matter where the divorce and custody precedings happened, as they are considered a separate issue.