Moving Custody Jurisdiction to Texas

by Anonymous from Texas

Moving jurisdiction of court ordered custody and modification to court order. I need to know how to go about modifying a court order for joint custody issued about 12-13 years ago.

Son's father initiated all the legal issues and then pretty much walked out of son's life after judgement of joint custody.

Now trying to re-enter son's life and is trying to act as if he can continue as if he never left.

Son is now 13 going on 14 and at first wanted to try the relationship out but has had a change of heart and wants nothing to do with his father.

I am currently in another state (Texas) and father is residing in state of Missouri. Neither one of us is in the state of Florida and FL courts have jurisdiction over our case. How can I have jurisdiction moved and how can I get the court order modified?

Answer to Florida Child Custody Question

Dear Anonymous,

Since none of the parties live in Florida anymore jurisdiction falls to the child's home state, the state of Continuing Exclusive Jurisdiction (CEJ), which is now Texas.

To transfer jurisdiction to Texas in order to modify a custody order you need to register the court order in Texas as a foreign court order.

A foreign court order means, in your situation, a court foreign to that state and not a foreign country. In other words, another state other than Texas.

I don't know specific processes in Texas, but if the situation were opposite, and you needed to transfer the court order from Texas to Florida, you would petition the court to accept jurisdiction based on the fact that Florida is now the child's home state.

The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJEA) addresses child custody and jurisdiction; the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) addresses child support. Both are federal laws which have been accepted by most (if not all) of the states.

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