Legal Question in Family Law in California

My sister has had custody of her daughter since she was born. 2 years ago to be nice to the father they wrote up an agreement that would give him custody for 3 years so she could get to know and live with him for those 3 years, after the years are up the agreement states that my sister will get the custody and her daughter would come back to live with mom. My sister lives in California and baby daddy lives in Georgia. The agreement was written up in California signed and notorized as well. My neice has mentioned to her father that she wants to live with her mom again and he replied by telling her that, that probably wont happen. My neice is 11 years old, when she comes back to live in California she will be 12. My sister is now thinking that the father will not agree to send her daughter back and then submit papers to court in Georgia petitioning for full custody. The question is will he be able to file in Georgia or will he have to file in California and also what should my sister do, because hiring an attorney is out of the question due to no money to afford one. Also will my neice have a say at all? She has straight A's and is in the honor society.


Asked on 6/16/11, 10:43 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Your sister really blew it by not going through the California legal system in the first place and getting the agreement made a court order. If she had done that, the Georgia courts would enforce it and send the child back. By not making it a formal order, however, that agreement isn't worth the paper it's written on. Georgia now has jurisdiction over the child and the case. Everything will be done in Georgia courts according to Georgia law. She better start saving for a Georgia lawyer and travel expenses.

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Answered on 6/17/11, 3:04 pm


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