Legal Question in Family Law in Nevada
2 years ago my ex husband received custody of my children by default. The children were with me and I let them go visit him and he filed while they were visiting. He sent the court paperwork to the wrong address so I never received court date information so he gained custody because I wasn't there. I live in Nevada and he lived in Oklahoma. The problem is our financial situations have greatly changed and he isn't in any condition to care for our children correctly and I am. He also never lets me see them. I want to regain custody but I want to know if there is a way to do this from my state. I have a job that won't allow me to take off time to go back and forth but my girls need to be back with me. He has no house and is living with his parents. My girls are 5 and 11 and they share a room with him when he is there. For the most part he runs around and leaves them in the care of his parents. He has no job and he is also a substance abuser.
1 Answer from Attorneys
I think your major obstacle is that you have waited so long. He gained custody by lying to the court; however, you did not call him on the lie right away.
Arguably, Nevada no longer has jurisdiction over the children since they have lived in Oklahoma for so long and because Oklahoma has accepted jurisdiction.
That being said, you may be able to convince a Nevada judge that the children have been temporarily absent from the State of Nevada for two years because of bad faith on the party of the father, which would mean the six month rule set out by the Uniform Child Custody Enforcement Act would not have began to toll. In addition, you could argue that you are the parent and therefore have superior rights to a grandparent to raise your children.
A lawyer can do research on these areas of law and prepare a motion or motions. The fact that you are making good money now should mean that you could hire a good attorney in Nevada and in Oklahoma to assist you.
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