Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia
Visitation & Jurisdiction
I am CP & share joint custody of dd4.My divorce was final in GA 6/00.X moved last Aug. I denied her summer visit b/c she refused to give me person's inof that would be babysitting. There is too much I need to say but not enough time & space. It states in our order we are both allowed all access to teachers,schools & etc I explained this to her & told her if I did not get this infoI gave her til day dd was to leave then she would not be going til I received such info. She lead me to believe she was going to give me it,then wrote me the day before dd was to leave to say she wasn't going to. I filed a petition in TN for juris. 7/3/02.I was told through a mutual friend that x filed on 6/26,for sole cust,CS mod,& contempt in GA stating I denied her SB&Summer visit. I did deny Summer,however,I have 3 letters from her stating she was unable to exercise SB visit. She is 7 mo in arrears w/ CS. She refuses to co-parent & leaves it up to her parent make her parenting decisions. Bm has bi-polar & refuses her meds.She makes decisions that could put dd in dangerMy questions is who obtains juris & can she file petitions in a county she is no longer a resident of?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Visitation & Jurisdiction
While I am not disputing Mr. Ballinger's post, you can file a petition in TN to register the custody order here and make it an order of a Tennessee court which can then be modified here (and you have apparently done so). If the mother has filed a petition in GA to change custody, you can challenge jurisdiction by pointing out where the child has been.
Re: Visitation & Jurisdiction
The court that issues the origianl order has the subject matter jurisdiction with the power of contempt over an order which it issues. Further, Georgia is a continuing jurisdiction state which allows that once a Georgia court issues a final order for the determination of custody, the courts in Goergia would reatin jurisdiction until both parents moved from the state or the court elected that the Georgia court would not retain jurisdiction. (i.e That would occur in a case where the primary custodial parent moved away several years and the all of the records and all the witnesses were in another state.) Which state actuallu has jurisdiction is governed under a Federal statute called the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA). It provides that if more than one state can exercise jurisdiction, the state which will have jurisdiction is the state which granted the initial custody determination unless that state elects not to retain jurisdiction.
it would appear from the limited facts which have been provided, georgia would retain jurisdiction.
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