Legal Question in Family Law in North Carolina

If you want everything step by step, you will have to hire an attorney.

As the grandmother has physical custody (why?) there has to be a court order. If that is the case and you want to modify the custody order, the easiest way to do this is to go to the state that entered the initial custody order.

If the child no longer lives in the state where the order was entered, you can register the original court order in the new second state and ask that court to modify the original order.

In either case, you will have to ask the court for modification of the custody order and you will have to show as grounds for the modification that whatever events that led to thge placement of the child with the grandmother have been rectified and that the child's best interests will be served by placing the child with you.

Since I don't know what states we are talking about, you will need to direct your question to a family law attorney in the state where the order was entered or where the child resides if you want more specific advice.

Every state has its own version of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act which will be slightly different from the North Carolina version. Follow that law if neither you nor the child are still in the state where the initial custody order was entered.

If the grandmother got physical custody through some type of agreement and there was no court order, then in that case, you can go to court and file an initial custody complaint. You will have to show that the child's best interests will be served if the child is placed with you.