[BevyRed]

My boyfriend (resides in Miami, Fl) and his ex wife have shared legal and physical custody of their daughter which was issued in Minnesota in 2007. In 2008 he asked the courts in Minnesota to enforce visitation and modify his child support. After traveling to MN from FL to attend court hearings and mediations for about a year his ex wife (who is an attorney) up and moved to Orlando, Florida three weeks before the final hearing. She wrote a letter to the courts after she had already moved stating she was moving so visitations would be easier between my boyfriend and their daughter. That proved to be only a way to manipulate the courts because visitations were made difficult, visits for which he had to drive 4 hours to and 4 hours from were sometimes canceled last minute and phone calls were seldom answered. My boyfriend had to wait six months for her to become a permanent resident of Florida before filing a motion for modification for which she responded to October 18th. On October 27th she called him and told him she had moved to Georgia and when he asked why, when and where she hung up the phone. He has not spoken to his daughter since September and has no idea where she lives in Georgia. She had also filed a petition for a name change in Minnesota in 2008 which was denied by the courts yet when she moved to Orlando in 2009 she registered their daughter under the hyphenated last name she was denied in court. There was a hearing set for last week which we attended and she did not. The courts were unaware she had moved out of state once again and when they got her on the phone during the hearing she stated she moved to Georgia on October 19th to take the bar exam there in February. She did not mention this at all in her response to the motion signed by her October 18th. Since this was a hearing to modify child support the judicial officer had no interest in the fact the she was clearly in violation of custody and denied the motion for modification stating Florida was out of jurisdiction (she hasn't lived in Georgia for six months yet) and my boyfriend should consult with an attorney in Georgia. We cannot afford an attorney at this point and still owe a few thousand to the attorney we had in Minnesota when he first brought these issues to the courts there. We've talked to a few people in the clerks office in Orlando as well as some paralegals and no one understands how she's getting away with this and why the courts are allowing it. PLEASE help... we would really appreciate any input.

[cdad]

How was it that the Florida courts determined there wasn't jurisdiction?

[BevyRed]

The judicial officer asked her when she moved to Georgia, if she was employed and if she was now permanently residing in Georgia. She answer saying she moved on October 19th, 2010, was not employed at the moment but is a permanent of Georgia. The judicial officer then asked my boyfriend to step outside of the courtroom so he could speak with her. When he was asked to come back in the judicial officer told him that because she was now residing in Georgia he could not rule on this and that even if he did the prosecution (woman from child support who was present in court) would appeal the ruling and win the appeal. My boyfriend then asked the judicial officer why this couldn't be heard being that when he first tried to bring this issue to the Orlando court after the case was closed in Minnesota and given a "transfer of venue" they (Orlando clerks office) told him that this issue should have been heard in Minnesota regardless being that she was still considered a resident of Minnesota if she had just moved in the recent weeks. The judicial officer said something about a Chapter 88 preventing him from ruling on this issue in Florida.

[cdad]

Your boyfriend made some huge mistakes. You had stated that previously the "ex" had met the residency reequirements for Florida. So jurisdiction was allowed to change. The courts should have allowed it to proceed. As it is they may be in violation of federal law. Since both parents were living in Florida and one still remains then Florida should be holding exclusive jurisdiction.

He needs to look at the UCCJEA

Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction And Enforcement Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They are playing him because he didn't have a lawyer. Also the child support representative has no standing in the case other then having an interest in the outcome is all. They are suppose to be a nuetral party (for the children)

[BevyRed]

Thank you so much for the link. We're adding that to the Motion for Reconsideration to the courts in Orlando. I know not having a lawyer makes it easy for them to brush us off but he can't get legal aid in Orlando because he resides in Miami.

[ScottGem]

Another issue here is the court was hearing a modification of support, not visitation. They are two separate things.

Your boyfriend should stop by the local FBI office. If she left the jurisdiction with the children while litigation was pending and has refused to tell him where she is, then she could be charged with parental kidnapping. The FBI may act in that case. But I would concentrate on the visitation issue. She moved in violation of a court ordered visitation order. She is therefore in contempt of court.

P.S. please don't use the Comments feature for follow-up. Use the Answer options instead,

[AK lawyer]

... The judicial officer then asked my boyfriend to step outside of the courtroom so he could speak with her. ...

That's very peculiar. It appears to be an improper ex parte contact. I would have this looked into.

...
The courts should have allowed it to proceed. As it is they may be in violation of federal law. Since both parents were living in Florida and one still remains then Florida should be holding exclusive jurisdiction.

He needs to look at the UCCJEA

Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction And Enforcement Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia...

FYI, UCCJEA is not federal law.

[BevyRed]

@ScottGem Thank you for your response. We will definitely be contacting the FBI office here in Miami. When she first moved I was so frustrated that I called my local police department but they said I should get an attorney. We are in the process of having his final judgment/divorce decree domesticated in Georgia to begin the process of having visitation enforced there. We were able to obtain the name of the school his daughter attends kindergarten at in Georgia from her previous school in Orlando. His ex went as far as registering their daughter with her passport instead of birth certificate so the school wouldn't have any info on him as her father. He faxed over her birth certificate and was able to contact her teacher via email. We don't think the school will provide a home address on her but in the event we need to hire a PI we'll have a starting point.

Also what I don't understand is how she was able to move to begin with from Minnesota to Florida by only sending the court a letter after already living in Orlando for three weeks and not notifying my boyfriend before that. I'm sure she felt she would get away with it again without even notifying the courts at all when she moved from Orlando to Georgia now.

[ScottGem]

Document the fact that she has defied court ordered previously.