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Custody Case - Ohio or Alabama?

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A

AlanaH

Guest
We live in OH. My husband's ex moved with their son (now 2 yrs. old) to AL. She's been nothing but problems from day one. She's continually refused to go by guidelines until she knows that my husband will not give in. She refuses to acknowledge my children (who my husband is in the process of adopting) as their son's brothers. She doesn't allow me or anyone else in my husband's family to have contact with him. She also refuses to tell us if the man she's living with (& has the child calling Daddy) is her new husband because she says it's "None of your business." She even told us we would have to send a camera & film down so we could have pictures of him. When she's done w/the film, we have to send money for postage to send it back.

Second, when we got him for X-mas visitation & made her go by the guidelines for transportation (both parents equally responsible), she threatened to take my husband to court for contempt because she said that when she moved to AL that changed the visitation guidelines. When we refused to give in, she did come get him.

Then, in January, when we told her we wanted him the 1st half of summer, she said no because she found out I was pregnant & thought we didn't deserve to see him because we were having a new baby. We contacted her numerous times by e-mail (which is our main line of communication) & phone to discuss the date we would be picking him up for summer visitation. She refused to speak to us about it until it was "convenient" for her which she said would be April or May. We finally sent her a letter stating what day we would be picking him up. One week before we were to get him, my husband called to confirm the plans. She stated that she'd already had jurisdiction transferred to AL & we had absolutely no visitation until summer 2001. Luckily, my husband tape records all conversations with her. Our attorney took e-mails & the taped conversation to the judge & got a court order for her to give him to us for summer visitation. We went to get him (1000 miles) & she called the sheriff's dept. on us when we got there. No one would help us, & we came home w/out him.

Here's where the real problem begins. As soon as we got back to our hotel, we called our attorney in OH & let him know what was going on. He filed a motion to change custody from her to my husband. Our court date was Aug. 10. While we were in AL the last week of June, the courts there sent us certified papers about a court date set for Sept. 27 which she had filed for to have jurisdiction transferred to AL & to get back child support. Apparently her motion was filed before our first one was. We still have not received anything about that hearing because no one was here to get the certified letter & it's not been sent back to us.

She didn't show up to our custody hearing. She did send a letter full of obvious lies - she doesn't have the money to pay for her half of the transportation, it would cost $150 for her to provide the 5 1/2 wks. of diapers that she must send with him, she's afraid we will take him & she'll never see him again. The judge said her attorney never filed with our court to gain jurisdiction and he was going to talk with the judge in AL because he was not willing to give up jurisdiction. It's been 3 wks., & we've still not heard from our judge.

Our attorney in OH says that because the child has lived in AL for over 6 mos., AL can take jurisdiction w/out our judge giving permission. The attorney also said even if the judge does give us custody, AL won't uphold it because of the 6 mos. He told us to get an attorney from AL to represent us.

We contacted 2 attorneys in AL who gave us conflicting advice. The first said we would have to get an AL attorney. The second said that because the last hearing heard on the custody case (prior to the one this month) had been held w/in the last 3 yrs. in OH, AL would not take jurisdiction.

Even if we do have to have an attorney from AL, we can't afford it. We don't know where to go from here. Which attorney is right?



[This message has been edited by AlanaH (edited August 29, 2000).]
 


B

Brigit

Guest
1) Did she get the courts permission to take the child out of state?

2)Did she apply for a change of venue to move it to AL?

3)Did she register the order giving her custody, etc. in AL? If she did not register the order, then it still stands in OH...unfortunately, I just went through a circus like that :)

4) oh, yeah--DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT!
 

LegalBeagle

Senior Member
First of all, AL would not take jurisdiction without OH authorisation. There is a set process in changing jurisdiction which first involves a hearing, followed by the AL judge personally calling the OH judge and discussing the case. If the OH judge does not give up jurisdiction then it is highly unlikely that the AL judge would 'take' it.

Since there is a pending custody case in OH, the jurisdiction hearing in september should be dismissed as under the UCCJA, no new state can take jurisdiction whilst there is other pending action in another state. However, her motion was filed first so in some ways that makes your custody hearing null..

Confused ?? Since the jurisdiction hearing has not taken place it is my belief that the judge in OH will rule first and probably in your favour. Now you have a problem, you have a OH court order and a mother who refuses to give up custody. You now have no choice but to petition the courts in AL. So you would need an AL attorney. Two possible actions here, either you file the foreign court order into the AL system and try and get it enforced without AL taking jurisdiction, or you attend the jurisdiction hearing, have jurisdiction changed and then file for custody again.

What date did she move to AL and did she seek any permission for the move ?. I get the impression that she moved in 99 so in some ways the different attorneys are correct. If she had been in AL for 6 months with no pending action in OH then yes, jurisdiction should be with AL.

My advice is to try and get that decision in OH asap and then get legal advice from a AL attorney.




------------------
Psst.. I am not an attorney, and even if I was, I would not tell you. Which technically could mean I am an attorney, but I would not tell you either way. What I am giving you is not legal advice in anyway. For proper legal advice, retain a person who openly admits they are an attorney.
 
L

LnWilson

Guest
Originally posted by AlanaH:
We live in OH. My husband's ex moved with their son (now 2 yrs. old) to AL. She's been nothing but problems from day one. She's continually refused to go by guidelines until she knows that my husband will not give in. She refuses to acknowledge my children (who my husband is in the process of adopting) as their son's brothers. She doesn't allow me or anyone else in my husband's family to have contact with him. She also refuses to tell us if the man she's living with (& has the child calling Daddy) is her new husband because she says it's "None of your business." She even told us we would have to send a camera & film down so we could have pictures of him. When she's done w/the film, we have to send money for postage to send it back.

Second, when we got him for X-mas visitation & made her go by the guidelines for transportation (both parents equally responsible), she threatened to take my husband to court for contempt because she said that when she moved to AL that changed the visitation guidelines. When we refused to give in, she did come get him.

Then, in January, when we told her we wanted him the 1st half of summer, she said no because she found out I was pregnant & thought we didn't deserve to see him because we were having a new baby. We contacted her numerous times by e-mail (which is our main line of communication) & phone to discuss the date we would be picking him up for summer visitation. She refused to speak to us about it until it was "convenient" for her which she said would be April or May. We finally sent her a letter stating what day we would be picking him up. One week before we were to get him, my husband called to confirm the plans. She stated that she'd already had jurisdiction transferred to AL & we had absolutely no visitation until summer 2001. Luckily, my husband tape records all conversations with her. Our attorney took e-mails & the taped conversation to the judge & got a court order for her to give him to us for summer visitation. We went to get him (1000 miles) & she called the sheriff's dept. on us when we got there. No one would help us, & we came home w/out him.

Here's where the real problem begins. As soon as we got back to our hotel, we called our attorney in OH & let him know what was going on. He filed a motion to change custody from her to my husband. Our court date was Aug. 10. While we were in AL the last week of June, the courts there sent us certified papers about a court date set for Sept. 27 which she had filed for to have jurisdiction transferred to AL & to get back child support. Apparently her motion was filed before our first one was. We still have not received anything about that hearing because no one was here to get the certified letter & it's not been sent back to us.

She didn't show up to our custody hearing. She did send a letter full of obvious lies - she doesn't have the money to pay for her half of the transportation, it would cost $150 for her to provide the 5 1/2 wks. of diapers that she must send with him, she's afraid we will take him & she'll never see him again. The judge said her attorney never filed with our court to gain jurisdiction and he was going to talk with the judge in AL because he was not willing to give up jurisdiction. It's been 3 wks., & we've still not heard from our judge.

Our attorney in OH says that because the child has lived in AL for over 6 mos., AL can take jurisdiction w/out our judge giving permission. The attorney also said even if the judge does give us custody, AL won't uphold it because of the 6 mos. He told us to get an attorney from AL to represent us.

We contacted 2 attorneys in AL who gave us conflicting advice. The first said we would have to get an AL attorney. The second said that because the last hearing heard on the custody case (prior to the one this month) had been held w/in the last 3 yrs. in OH, AL would not take jurisdiction.

Even if we do have to have an attorney from AL, we can't afford it. We don't know where to go from here. Which attorney is right?



[This message has been edited by LnWilson (edited August 30, 2000).]
 
L

LnWilson

Guest
I'm sorry if my reply was mixed up into your statment. My husband and I are going through the exact same thing. We live in OH to. Please let me know what happens it may help our case too. I wish you all the luck!!!
 
A

AlanaH

Guest
I just spoke w/our attorney. The judge didn't give us custody because my husband owes about $700 in child support. However, he did order that the ex-wife has 10 days to make arrangements to bring the child to us for our summer visitation at her expense. I haven't gotten the papers in the mail yet. So I'm not sure what the exact details are. This is all the attorney told us. He did say, however, that if she doesn't bring him to us & we pay the child support, we will appeal & probably get the child.
 
A

AlanaH

Guest
I just spoke w/our attorney. The judge didn't give us custody because my husband owes about $700 in child support. However, he did order that the ex-wife has 10 days to make arrangements to bring the child to us for our summer visitation at her expense. I haven't gotten the papers in the mail yet. So I'm not sure what the exact details are. This is all the attorney told us. He did say, however, that if she doesn't bring him to us & we pay the child support, we will appeal & probably get the child.
 

LegalBeagle

Senior Member
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by AlanaH:
I just spoke w/our attorney. The judge didn't give us custody because my husband owes about $700 in child support. However, he did order that the ex-wife has 10 days to make arrangements to bring the child to us for our summer visitation at her expense. I haven't gotten the papers in the mail yet. So I'm not sure what the exact details are. This is all the attorney told us. He did say, however, that if she doesn't bring him to us & we pay the child support, we will appeal & probably get the child.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I must have missed the owing 700 in cs thing when I replied...

Of course, you know she is going to ignore that order ? I suggest you get up to date with CS so that you can avoid a repeat..
 

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