I am trying to find out where I would need to go to change/modify a custody order that granted my ex spouse sole legal and physical custody 3 years ago. He now resides in MA, I now reside in CA, but in may will be moving to TX to live with my fiancŽ. The original custody order (was changed from shared legal and physical) to sole for him after the divorce and after I left the state. Now due to him having just recently come back from a 2 1/2 yr stay out of the country with the child the UCCJEA law is kind of confusing. So I am trying to find out where jurisdiction lies to modify the custody since father moved to MA about 4 month ago.

The court that issued the last order is currently the court that has jurisdiction. If both parents have moved out of the state where the first orders were given, the state where the child now lives could be the one used.

If you do not live in the same state ( and close enough to do joint physical custody) I doubt you can get it, when a child is in school, often you need to live close enough to get child to their school for that. You may get joint legal custody.

You need to see about perhaps visitation schedule.

MA would have jurisdiction. You could file in the court that originally issued the order, but he can easily have it changed to MA.

I agree you should be filing for a visitation schedule.

I am curious as to why the original order was changed and why you didn't fight it then.

Well thank you both for your replies , what happened was this, we got divorced, I lost my job and place etc, so I moved to another state to stay with a relative and try to get back on my feet. Just 2 days later he presented to me a request for change of custody. He used usual lies, drugs and mental illness. Neither one is or was ever true. I was unemployed in only worked for about 5 -6 weeks for a temp agency, he used that income for child support. I did not have any income so I was unable to pay a lawyer, now I know better, there are legal aids, never knew that before, never had a court case. Well 2 month later after he won custody he send me a email saying he's moving to korea, was about 1 day before his flight out in 2009. And I was told that until his return to the US I was unable to change anything, he just returned in middle-end of October, so now the whole custody dispute can begin. I was somewhat certain that I will not get physical custody, I already know that since he lived so far away and me being now able/allowed to see my son in that time I will just request shared legal custody with visitation rights in summer and winter at least, just a week ago I have seen my son the first time in 4 years and am happy to report he wants to see me again (my biggest worry was he did not want to see me). Also does anyone know what I can do about the fact that my ex has still refused to give me his whereabouts? All I got is his fathers address for use with the courts. Again thank you both for your fast replies

Ok, I suspected something like that. And, of course that's why he wanted sole physical and legal custody so, he could get your son a passport without your permission.

So what I would do now is try to find an attorney with ties to a MA firm. Shop around because I think you may be able to have your ex required to pay your legal expenses. I would take the position that you were taken advantage of because of your job status at the time and that your ex engineered the change in custody to get the child out of the country. I don't think a court will appreciate what he did.

As for locating your child. Until you can change the fact that he has sole legal and physical custody, you probably can't force this. Once you get joint legal custody, then you can force being informed. One of the first things I would have your attorney do is either revoke or place a watch on your son's passport to prevent him being moved out of the country again.

Thank you ScottGem... I did not know that I can put a hold or watch on my sons passport. I will do that on Tuesday right away. And yes, I will have to find me a lawyer in the state of MA, but so far no luck either they are way out of my price range or they are unwilling to take the case due to me being in another state. But I definitely will do the passport hold/watch.

I'm not saying you definitely can, but it is certainly worth a try. However, I don't think you can until there is pending litigation. As long as he has sole custody, you have no say, So putting a watch on the passport will probably need to be approved by a court.

Don't look for a MA attorney, look for a local attorney with a MA affiliate.