Legal Question in Family Law in North Carolina

Re: I have full custody, she keeps threatening to take him away if I try to move

North Carolina orders are not voided upon a parent moving to another state. If that were the case, any parent who lost custody could simply move across the state line and during a visitation period file a suit for custody in the new state. It would lead to a ridiculous result and hundreds of crazy dueling inter-state child custody lawsuits. The states have approved (in part or in whole) the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act which dictates when a state will have jurisdiction and when that jurisidiction can/shall/must shift from the originating state to a new state.

The actual answer to your question depends largely on what the order/agreement says. Is there a provision regarding removing the child from the state?...more than a certain distance from the other parent? Does she have visitation rights? Also, does she exercise her visitation rights? How old is the child? How long has the child been in your sole custody? What kind of a mother was she during marriage?...since separation?

The standard the mother would have to prove to give the court the ability to change the custody arrangement would be "substantial change of circumstance affecting the child." This effect can be a negative effect or a positive effect. Then she would have to show that the child's best interest would be served by placing his custody with her.

I believe she is threatening to get an Ex Parte Emergency Custody Order. That is an order she receives from a local Judge who has heard her side of the story (truthfully told or not) and who has signed an order requiring the return of the child to her. She would then go to Iowa, get the order reqistered in the county where the child resides, usually have a hearing 3-days later in that county, and then there would be a 10-day return hearing in North Carolina. A fairly complicated procedure when attempting to reach an out-of-state child, but certainly not impossible.

If you decide to leave for Iowa contact a local (NC) attorney and ensure you are not violating your custody order by moving, ensure that you are not hiding the child's location from the mother before, during and after the move, ensure that the child's welfare is not harmed by the relocation, and that there is no possible way the mother could come to the court and state that you had/have put the child in any danger that would rise to the level of an emergency sufficient to give the court grounds to grant an emergency custody order.