can child stay?

i am an ex-wife who had a divorce in florida in 1991. my ex-husband was given custody by me at that time. ive since moved to california,been here for 7 years. my now 9year old daughter came for visitation 7mo. ago and ex-husband agreed she could stay to see if she did better in school. she is and now he wants her back!!! is california her home state nowthat she been here for 7mo.? nothing has been filed in court since the original divorce in '91. pleasehelp me before it too late

[LegalBeagle]

So you orginal order stated that you have physical custody and this was never changed ? First, CA will have jurisdiction.. second, you have a good chance to keeping custody. If the child is happy and doing well then inform him of this and that it would be in the best interests of the child to remain with you.

What I am not sure about is if you need to do anything. Since the original order is still in place and in your favour, it will be up to him to contest it. Whatever you do, make sure that any action by him filed in FL is dismissed as not having jurisdiction.

What I would not do, is to allow the child to go back since with your current arrangement, he could file for custody and get to keep the child.

[MySonsMom]

Legal Beagle..The original court ordered that the Father had physical custody and the child has just been staying with the mother..nothing changed in the original documents..still states that father has custody..That is what I gathered from the post..

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~MySonsMom~

[LegalBeagle]

hehe missed that one

In which case, file for custody in CA. You might need to file an ex-parte motion to grant you temporary custody incase the ex decided to file charges of kidnapping etc..