Legal Question in Family Law in California
In three years since I left my husband, he has seen his children only once -- per the divorce decree, he had to wait 18 months to see them, but in the other half of those 3 years, only once has he seen them and it was in this past June. Now he wants to take the children to Georgia (I'm in California) for Christmas vacation although he has not had sufficient bonding time with his toddler son who is very wary of him.
When I told my ex that he needed to bond with the children more before taking them to Florida, he brushed off my concern and proceeded to dictate his desires for his planned Christmas visit.
The father of my children is an unpredictable man who is involved with a woman who thinks she's a vampire (no joke)... in all our corrospondance, there is a condescending tone. This man has called Children's Services on me from 2500 miles away because I missed his call (due to a phone that needed charging). His girlfriend has cyber stalked my friends and hacked into my email account twice that I am aware of and once into my Facebook account.
What I want to know is how to change the venue from Georgia to California when it comes to modifying the custody arrangement so I have sole custody. (I'm not against him visiting with his children, but rushing into it before adequate bonding has been achieved seems like faulty logic)
Any and all help is appreciated.
(Oh, and my divorce lawyer says he doesn't know Georgia law or how to change the venue to California)
1 Answer from Attorneys
I'm assuming from the wording of your question that the existing orders were issued in Georgia, even though you don't specifically say that. The answer is that you will not be able to change jurisdiction from Georgia to California as long as he still lives in Georgia, unless he consents or you can persuade the Georgia courts to make a finding that California would be a more appropriate jurisdiction. So regardless of whether you can persuade the Georgia courts to allow the case to move to California, you must start in the Georgia courts if you want to modify the existing order.