I hope this isn’t too confusing… I have two children with my ex. We were never married, and have no custody agreement. I recently (about two months ago) moved to Arizona. I was living with my mother in North Carolina, and was involved in a domestic dispute where she was arrested. I was no longer able to live there so my ex bought me a plane ticket to Arizona to live with my father. The kids stayed with him in North Carolina. What I need to know is how I could go about getting custody of my children, being out of state.
From what I gather, since you left the children with their father, it will be difficult for you to get custody. But, I’m not an attorney, so take it for what it’s worth.
To file for custody, you actually have to go to the courthouse in NC and fill out the papers, have them notarized, file them, and have their father served. Then you have to wait for your court date. And you have to go back to NC for the hearings…every.single.one. It will get spendy. (I’m in FL, with my son, and have to keep driving back and forth to NC…1st to file, then again for the hearing, then again for the ‘front-end meeting’, and now I’m going to have to drive back again to file for change of venue, since stbx moved to FL too, and again for the hearing to get the venue changed).
Is the father not wanting to give you the children back??? If he’s fighting you on this, he will likely have a leg to stand on, since you left the children with him…
Good luck!
Since the children and their father are in NC, NC has jurisdiction of the case, even though you have moved. If you wish to seek custody and/or visitation with the children through the courts, you must file an action for child custody in the county where the children live.