Interstate Jurisdiction In Family Law

Posted on July 5, 2013 by About The Children LLC — 3 Comments

Interstate Family Law

A lot of parents going through the family legal process have a few obstacles in their path that they need to deal with along the way to get custody or visitation of their children. The days of the nuclear family are not quite behind us but it’s becoming more common for families to be spread out across a couple states due to one parent working in another state or many other reasons. When going through family court, it can be difficult to know just what your rights are and what states actually observe those rights and which ones contradict the other; in short, it gets complicated. If you’ve never done this before this complication can seem like a mountain to climb if you don’t have any legal knowledge of experience. While an attorney can give you most of the answers you would need about this, they are going to charge you for this kind of service. If you’re representing yourself in family court, doing your homework is paramount.

The Age Of Information. Twenty years ago if you couldn’t find the information in a library or ask someone else who knew what you needed to find out, you were up that proverbial creek without a paddle. Today information about state statutes, congressional legislation and information on legal rights of parents in general is easily accessible through the advent of the internet. Online resources are a great way to get the information you need to properly handle your case, this is especially true if you’re representing yourself. Not only can you look up state laws across the nation, not just your own, but this also gives you the ability to contact organizations across the country that have experience with interstate jurisdiction and access the forms you potentially need to file with the court. All of this really just depends on your ability to find the right information on the web to help you.

The Imaginary Lines Divide Us. The second you step into Colorado from Kansas, the phrase “We’re not in Kansas anymore” takes on a new meaning, legally. It can be difficult to determine what states observe grandparents rights or if your state frowns on people going the self-representation route. The question of jurisdiction is also going to come up. Generally, your family court case will take place wherever the child resides. With that in mind, laws can begin to contradict each other and lawyers will have differing opinions on what you should or should not be doing and what advice they can give in general; some attorney’s might even throw their arms up and not know what to tell you. As a parent going through a court case, having a legal professional giving you information that is contrary to another lawyer can be very frustrating. Unfortunately, this is more common than you would think. Doing your homework in this case will be a little more difficult but not impossible. Finding advocacy groups or attorneys that specialize in interstate family legal issues is very important.

Doing all this yourself costs less but can have slightly more complications but hiring an attorney will cost you upwards of $4,000; it’s a trade off, you need to weigh out your options. The goal here is to get custody or visitation rights to you children. The judge cares about three things: that your argument makes sense, that you’re being reasonable and that you’re taking the child’s best interests into consideration. Once you have the right tools for the job, it’s just a matter of executing the plan. Think of it like dominoes, once you set them up the way you want them, all it takes is a gentle push and they all fall into place.

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