My wife and I settled out of court in VA. She now lives in NC and I am in TN. I want to file for a change of custody and child support. How do I transfer the case to NC where my girls live. They have lived there for 3 years. Yes, there has been sufficient change in income to file for a change in custody and TN. Also I am planning on moving to there city in NC to get more custody. Please help me! Thanks
Is custody/child support contained in a court order? Or a separation agreement? If it is in a separation agreement you can simply file in NC and NC an exercise jurisdiction since the children have been here for at least 6 months. If you previous custody/child support details are contained in a Virginia court order, in order to change jurisdiction you’ll need to take the steps to register the order in NC and make a motion asking the NC court to exercise jurisdiction. VA will have to relinquish jurisdiction and NC will have to accept.
You can read more on the laws governing jurisdiction by visiting our articles; to learn more about the UCCJEA, read our article discussing jurisdiction in custody cases and to learn about child support jurisdiction read our article on Child Support.