Legal Question in Family Law in District of Columbia

Re: Child Custody

If the matters of custody, support, and visitation, are already within the jurisdiction of your local Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court, all you need do is go to the clerk's office(civil division) and ask to file the papers for custody and support.

However, if the circuit court where you obtained your divorce still retains jurisdiction over these matters, a motion will have to be filed in your behalf to transfer them down to the J&DRDC where you will be able to deal with them on your own without an attorney. If that is the case, you will likely need to retain an attorney in order to file this motion for the transfer or, if you cannot afford to do that, then, perhaps, if you apply for DCSE services, one of their attorneys could do it for you.

Re: Child Custody

Correction to prior answer: The previous answer mistakenly presupposed that you were a resident of Virginia rather than D.C. Ignore that reponse, and just go to the Paternty and Child Support Branch of the Family Court on the 4th Floor of the D.C. Superior Court, and tell them what you want to do.