Child custody disagreements can be frustrating and emotionally exhausting experiences. When they are further complicated by a parent moving and seeking a change of custody to a different state or jurisdiction, the stress levels and potential for disaster can rise considerably.
When a Custodial Parent Wants to Move Out of State
When a couple with children divorces, separates, or otherwise dissolves their union, child custody is usually determined by a court in their home state. Unfortunately, decisions regarding child custody in one state were not always recognized and respected in another.
To help remedy this problem, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws drafted the The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) in 1997. The UCCJEA is a Uniform Law. A Uniform Law is a law that is the same or very similar across the majority of states.
These laws exist to help maintain a standard for court decisions in cases heard in the United States. Uniformity of this kind is important in many different situations, but particularly in child custody cases where the stakes are exceptionally high.
The Purpose of the UCCJEA
Child custody directly affects the well-being of the children involved. Estranged and divorced spouses can become embroiled in bitter child custody battles that last for years and take up the time and resources of the courts, not to mention exhausting their own financial resources. Divorced parents may in their heated emotional state try a variety of strategies to cause the custody agreement to go their way.
One of these strategies is to file for custody in a different state. For example: say a couple divorces and the mother is granted custody of the children in the state of Virginia. Later, during a visit with the children, the father, who has since moved to New Jersey, takes the kids to that state for a visit and files for custody there. The mother would then have to start litigation in order to try and return the children to her custody.
Situations like the one just described have happened in the past throughout the United States and have caused great stress and time-consuming litigation for parents attempting to regain their court-appointed rights to their children.
The purpose of the UCCJEA is to prevent this from happening by making sure the custody decision made in the child's home state is enforced.
Contact a Virginia Divorce Lawyer for Any Child Custody Disputes
If your ex-husband is saying or doing anything that would lead you to believe that he intends to file for child custody in another state, it would be in your best interest to consult with an a Virginia divorce lawyer who understands women's issues in Virginia. It is best to act quickly, in the interest of sparing yourself and your children any undue stress and unnecessary legal headaches.
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Charles R. Hofheimer View lawyer's profile |
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