Legal Question in Family Law in California

Child Custody

My parents have legal guardianship of my son, who is eight. I want to get him back but they won't give him up. The original paperwork was done in California. They live in Texas and I live in New Mexico. Which state has jurisdiction and where will I have to go to court to get custody?


Asked on 7/15/00, 12:02 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Charles Aspinwall Charles S. Aspinwall, J.D., LLC

Re: Child Custody

You will have to litigate the matter in TX if the child has resided there for 6 or more months.

Jurisdiction is where the child is, so not in NM or CA.

I can't imagine what has happened within your family to bring you to this place, but I wish you the best.

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Answered on 9/09/00, 10:42 am
John Watson John Watson, Attorney at Law

Re: Child Custody

You have a 'good' complicated legal question. To fully

answer your question I would want to know some more

information. (1) Why was legal custody of your child

placed with someone else? (2) Where is the child's other

parent? (3) When was this action taken; i.e., how long

has your child lived in Texas? (4) When and how often

do you visit with your child? (5) do you pay support

to your parents?

These are some of the baseline questions that will

be looked at by a court. And, depending on the answers,

custody of your child cannot be easily determined. For

example, if you never visit your child and it has

been many years since you have seen the child any

person will want to know why, what are the circumstances

of why that has happened. So you will need to answer

that question on some level. You may have to answer

that question to a judge.

In the end, if the child has been living in Texas

for longer than 6 months Texas may be the state

to determine the custody issues.

Good luck in your quest.

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Answered on 9/08/00, 8:51 pm


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