Legal Question in Family Law in California
In 2006 i filed for custody/child support/visitation, in Las Vegas NV for both of my children and got it! The judge granted me full custody and the father has to pay 500 a month for child support with visitation only on weekends. In 2008 the kids father and myself got married in pittsburgh pa. I decided to divorce do to personal reasons and he decided to keep my son longer than what was verbally talked about between us. Hes very angry that the divorce is a reality and wont give me my son due to this divorce. I havent processed divorce papers yet. I am currently getting help filling them out at a legal help center in my area. However, a child support agent in Las Vegas NV, looked in her system for my legal document that was filed in 2006 and said it was still valid. I live in California and my son lives in Las Vegas NV. My question is, can i use this order to get my son back home in california.
1 Answer from Attorneys
This is actually a question for Nevada lawyers. So you should re-ask the question there. However, I am pretty sure Nevada law is the same or similar to California on this issue. In California the custody and support order would have been rendered moot when you got married. The proper procedure would have been to notify the court that issued the order that you had gotten married, and the court would have vacated the order. Even though that was not done, any decent lawyer can now go in and have it done if you try to use the old invalid order. I can't swear that the result would be the same in Nevada but I'd be willing to "double down" on it. So you really should get your divorce going and get new orders issued. I should also warn you that under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, Nevada is most likely going to have jurisdiction over your divorce. You should go over the facts of the most recent residences of you, your husband, and the children with a California attorney immediately if you want to even try to do it in California, and see if there is a way to assert California jurisdiction in the case. Time is NOT on your side as long as the childeren are in Nevada.