Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

If she has been out of Virginia for less than six months, you can file in Virginia stating that Virginia is her "home state." You should have a good chance at getting the Virginia court to exercise jurisdiction. Enforcing a Virginia order in CO might be difficult, though. Depending on the circumstances, you might even be able to file in NC.

You might want to talk to a lawyer about asking the Virginia court to recognize NC as the "home state," based on the father's wrongdoing, but there's no guarantee the judge would do that.

I strongly recommend you contact an attorney to assist you with this.

If the child has only been in Colorado for the last month and previously was a resident of Virginia, Virginia should still have jurisdiction over the issue of custody of this child and you should therefore be able to file your petition for custody in the J&DRDC;of this locality where the child last resided.

If I understand the facts, I believe that Virginia is the only state with jurisdiction at this point. If the original custody order was entered in Virginia, and at least one of the parents still lives in Virginia, everything has to start in Virginia. Colorado would not have any appropriate nexus for exercising jurisdiction, even if the child had been in Colorado for years.