Q: My children have lived with me fulltime for 4 years. How can I get legal custody?
Their mother is all of a sudden wanting to move to Florida and take my kids with her. Is she allowed to do that?
A: Odd, but your children's mother asked the same thing yesterday. If there is not a court order awarding custody of the children to you, but rather the order grants custody to the mother, you should hire an experienced family law attorney to petition the court for a change of custody. As she previously stated, she has an order for physical custody although the children have been living with you for 4 years. Many questions need to be answered before one can properly evaluate your concern. Is there some sort of Judgment entered by the court relating to custody, support and parenting time? Is the Judgment from Michigan? All Michigan Judgments should (required) contain a provision that states the domicile or residence of the children shall not be removed from the State of Michigan without the prior approval of the court. In other words, the court has to enter an order authorizing the move out of Michigan before she could do so.
Justia Ask a Lawyer is a forum for consumers to get answers to basic legal questions. Any information sent through Justia Ask a Lawyer is not secure and is done so on a non-confidential basis only.
The use of this website to ask questions or receive answers does not create an attorney–client relationship between you and Justia, or between you and any attorney who receives your information or responds to your questions, nor is it intended to create such a relationship. Additionally, no responses on this forum constitute legal advice, which must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. You should not act upon information provided in Justia Ask a Lawyer without seeking professional counsel from an attorney admitted or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. Justia assumes no responsibility to any person who relies on information contained on or received through this site and disclaims all liability in respect to such information.
Justia cannot guarantee that the information on this website (including any legal information provided by an attorney through this service) is accurate, complete, or up-to-date. While we intend to make every attempt to keep the information on this site current, the owners of and contributors to this site make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to from this site.
