Legal Question in Family Law in Nevada

Since the baby is not even born yet and there are no custody orders in place, you may relocate outside the state of Nevada.

Once you move to Oregon and the baby is born, you can contact the Oregon District Attorney's offfice Family Support Division or their equivalent agency and ask them to establish a child support case against the father. They will then refer the matter to Nevada and Nevada will use its resources to hopefully track the father down for child support collection.

Where the baby is born and how long the child lives in a state affects jurisidction. Assuming that the father does nothing for an extended period of time, my guess is that Oregon will assume jurisdiction for custody and visitation purposes because by the time that becomes an issue, you will have been in Oregon long enough (at least 6 mos.).

You may want to consider contacting an Oregon attorney once you move and the baby is born.

This is general legal commentary and should not be solely relied upon as I don't have all of the facts before me.

Good luck,

Greta Muirhead

Las Vegas

You may be able to get a free second opinion at Washoe Legal Services

http://www.washoelegalservices.org/

Taxpayer-supported Washoe Legal Services is a non-profit legal services agency that is dedicated to helping qualified residents of Washoe County, Nevada.

Since 1965, Washoe Legal Services has provided civil legal services at no charge to residents of Washoe County who cannot, without a lawyer, access or protect their basic needs. WLS provides a broad representation of services and programs and is a participating United Way agency.

Its Mission Statement reads:

Washoe Legal Services provides free quality legal services and representation to qualified residents to enable them to receive justice in civil legal matters involving human needs and self-sufficiency. Washoe Legal Services also recruits attorneys to provide pro bono services to address unmet legal needs in the community.

Your attorney can advise further.

Some of the above is good info, and some is inaccurate. It is true that you are free to go wherever you wish before the child's birth. There is no "six month test" in that circumstance, however -- that place will instantly gain jurisdiction to determine custody, and to access the interstate child support network. For details, see the article titled "The Basics of Family Law Jurisdiction," on the Published Works page of our firm web site, at http://www.willicklawgroup.com/published_works.

Be aware that the public agencies are notoriously slow and inefficient. If you can afford it, you should consider hiring private counsel to pursue the paternity, custody, and child support cases. Where you choose to pursue them will determine which rules and guidelines apply. For the Nevada standards in each of those areas, see the http://www.willicklawgroup.com/paternity, http://www.willicklawgroup.com/child_custody_visitation and http://www.willicklawgroup.com/child_support pages of the web site.

If you do go off to Oregon, or anywhere else, to pursue your matter, you should probably seek consultation with an appropriate family law specialist. I would suggest starting your search with the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, which can be viewed at http://www.aaml.org. Good luck.