Want to move out of state, no court order

[oxmissbrit]

What is the name of your state? Maine

I would like to move to a new state with my children, from Maine to Texas. Their father and I do not have any court orders for custody. Their father is not consistent in their lives, he's seen them three times for a few hours each in a matter of a year. He hasn't paid child support for 7 weeks now. He works out of state on the road. He refuses to talk to me about the issue. I agreed to a meeting with him when he suggested we sit down and discuss the move. He quickly retracted the statement after I agreed. I've tried multiple attempts to try to discuss this matter with him. I've tried multiple times to discuss other matters with him regarding the children and child support. He refuses to discuss any matters with me. He doesn't reply back to my emails.

We are leaving at the end of November and I don't want to be charged with kidnapping. What are the laws on this? Are my children and I able to move without any repercussions?

 

[t74]

Are there orders for support? If so, why did you not get custody/visitation done at the same time. Court orders protect all, especially the joint (i.e. our not my) children.

 

[oxmissbrit]

No orders for support. We came to an agreement on an amount when we first separated. I do, however, opened a case last month for child support with the state of Maine.

 

[t74]

Without orders, he is not required to and should not be giving you a penny . You may NOT complain about this.

How is your current state going to have any effect given your plan to move soon and getting into court is usually not fast? Why are you moving and how long do you intend to stay in TX (perm or temp)?

 

[oxmissbrit]

I do have an open case on child support with the state of Maine. We're moving to Texas permanently. I want to know if it's even possible to move without court ordered custody

 

[HRZ]

Does he have any visitation rights?

I think you would be far smarter to get some paid input from ME legal counsel as to the ME move away issues and not keep discussing it with Dad ....lest you give him unnecessary opportunity to put ice water on your plans .

My lay scan of the issues is that you must give other parent just 30 days written notice of a pending move ....but a mere discussion does not count as ' notice ' ..plus it seems if the other parent has zero custody or visitation rights no notice may be required ...the point is you want counsel to help be sure you get it right ...without giving dad any too much extra time to object . Personally I think 35 days or so written notice is safer than no notice but that's best left to your attorney .

Your post is unclear is there is a support order in place or merely a pending action.

How does this move benefit the children .?

Unless you want to fly the kids back to Dad several times a year or pay him to fly to Texas several times a year ...I strongly suggest you use some paid ME legal counsel pronto .....and stop discussing things with dad except as advised by counsel ...you are giving dad too much room to create problems .

 

[stealth2]

Were you and the father married when the children were born? Has he been legally established as the father?

 

[Just Blue]

I do have an open case on child support with the state of Maine. We're moving to Texas permanently. I want to know if it's even possible to move without court ordered custody

Sure you can...And dad can go to the court in Maine and file for custody and to have the children returned to the state. I suggest to get this done correctly BEFORE moving.

Why are you moving to Texas ?

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? Maine

I would like to move to a new state with my children, from Maine to Texas. Their father and I do not have any court orders for custody. Their father is not consistent in their lives, he's seen them three times for a few hours each in a matter of a year. He hasn't paid child support for 7 weeks now. He works out of state on the road. He refuses to talk to me about the issue. I agreed to a meeting with him when he suggested we sit down and discuss the move. He quickly retracted the statement after I agreed. I've tried multiple attempts to try to discuss this matter with him. I've tried multiple times to discuss other matters with him regarding the children and child support. He refuses to discuss any matters with me. He doesn't reply back to my emails.

We are leaving at the end of November and I don't want to be charged with kidnapping. What are the laws on this? Are my children and I able to move without any repercussions?

You will NOT be charged with kidnapping. That is completely off the table. You are able to move, however, dad can rush to court to start a custody case and try to convince a judge that you should be ordered to return the children to Maine until custody can be decided. A judge may or may not grant that. Even if the judge doesn't order you to immediately return the children to Maine, you would have to return to Maine whenever a court hearing needed to happen.

What would have been the better thing to do, and unfortunately you do not have the time to do it now, would have been to file for custody 6 months or a year ago, and to have obtained court permission to relocate with the children. It is however, too late to do that now.

You need to put it in writing to dad that you intend to relocate with the children to Texas, on whatever date it is that you intend to leave. He will then have the opportunity to try to challenge your move in court.

Can you be more specific about "he works out of state on the road"?

 

[HRZ]

The end of Nov is still more than 30 days away ...and if OP rushes to sort out
legal steps , with counsel, it is highly likely she can give any required 30 day written notice to him in time and pray he fails to make a timely objection.

I do NOT know the technical requirements of notice for such matter ..this is one step OP needs to be sure is done right . A simple first class mail letter with proof of mailing may or may NOT count , gotta read the rules carefully ....better yet, use counsel . You don't want dad to get an extra XX days to sort out his objections because he was on the road and didn't bother to read or get his mail for 20 days!!