Legal Question in Family Law in California

You need to consult with a family law attorney to make sure California has jurisdiction before you fly back to Arizona with your son. Flying to Arizona without consulting with an attorney first will risk losing custody of your son to your husband in Arizona.

I am an attorney with my office in San Ramon. It is obvious you need to discuss this matter with an attorney. I offer a free initial consultation. Please feel free to call my office to schedule a time to meet next week. My number is 925-743-8666

After 6 months, you have established residency in California, and you need to file for custody orders in California. A notarized letter means nothing, you need a judge's signature. Otherwise, he has equal rights to custody and it could get ugly trying to get your son back. I recommend you at least take advantage of the free consultation Ms. Kock has offered to discuss what to do. You don't want a 2 year old being treated like a pawn.

If you have filed for divorce, it is actually technically illegal for you to take the child out of California. When you filed the Family Law Summons, you were placed under the automatic orders on that form. Once you serve him, he will be under those automatic orders as well. The uniform statutes on child custody jurisdiction give jurisdiction to the state in which the child has lived for the last six months. California has adopted those statutes and as far as I know so has AZ. So, if you have lived in California for six months or more with the child, he can only get an AZ order if he does not inform the court that you have been in California for the jurisdictional time and have filed for divorce. I cannot recommend strongly enough that you not go to AZ until he has been served. Please take Ms. Kock up on her offer, and if you would like a second opinion or just to compare attorneys, feel free to contact me for a consultation in my Walnut Creek office.