I am writing in reference to a state jurisdictional matter concerning child custody. My children were born and raised in the state of Maryland where I currently reside. My wife now resides in Greenville, NC. We have been separated for the better part of 5+ years. At one point in time she had one child with her in Greenville, and I had the other in Maryland with. To get physical custody of both children, she filed an ex parte order in NC forcing me to bring the child down there (fall 2006). At that point in time, my primary objective was to stay out of jail. However, after giving up the child and reviewing the ex parte order, I realized that the NC judge actually DECLINED to enforce the order. However, the Pitt County Sheriff’s department pressed the matter anyway.
I filed a custody here in Maryland a short while later, but once my case was heard, Maryland declined to give me primary custody because my two kids had been with my wife for about a year (fall 2007). I raised the issue of how she got the two kids, but Maryland felt that they did not have jurisdiction over that matter. The long and the short of it is that my kids have been in disadvantageous situation ever since they were taken to Greenville. They currently reside with my wife…in her mother’s two-bedroom public housing apartment with 5 or 6 other people. My wife has be sporadically employed dating back to 2005. I’ve started the process of revisitng my custody order. I should also mention that NC issued a child support oder in the summer of 2007 as well. I don’t mind paying it, but I did have some concerns about jurisdiction in that matter as well. Maryland attorneys have recommended that I contact an NC lawyer concerning this jurisdictional matter, and that is why I am writing this.