Well here is my question.
My estranged husband and I separated back in Nov 2008, we have 1 child in common and I have a child from a previous relationship, He has raised that child since she was an infant as his own child. To make this short enough I moved from Maryland to Ohio with the children and I currently have temporary full custody, I however am trying to come to an agreement with him so he may visit with the children in his state of Maryland over spring break and summer etc.. I am unsure though if my court order from Ohio stands in Maryland and I do not want to keep fighting with him but I also do not want to send my children there and him refuse to return them. Should I allow my children to go to Maryland for 9 days and pray he returns them or should I wait until we have a court oder from Maryland like the one we have from Ohio? I want him to be involved if anyone has any suggestions please let me know!
Thanks,
Mom trying to be nice to Dad

Well first unless he adopted the first child, he has no legal standing at all and it is up to you if he ever gets to visit that child, there can be no court order about him and that child. So he could not "keep" that child against your wishes as that is kidnapping

But what agreement, if there is a court order or custody order in place in some state already, and it gives him the right to have the child, it is binding and you have to, or he can drag you to court for contempt.

There is not "court orders" in each state, you get ONE in the state that has the authority over the child custody and divorce

In fact, you are lucky he has allowed you to move out of state, he did not have to allow it, I would assume that was agreed to in the prior custody order

All US states have reciprocal agreements on most things. So if you arer married in one state, and you move to another the marriage is accepted. Same with divorces. So if you have a court order in Ohio awarding you full custody it should be honored in Maryland.

However, there are some kickers here. Normally, one has to establish residency in a new place before that area has jurisdiction. Since you separated only last Nov, I'm not sure whether Ohio had jurisdiction in this matter. So your court order may not be valid.

In addition, if you left without a custody/visitation order was in place and without the father's permission, then you may have not acted within the law.

Do you have an attorney? Did that attorney review the applicable laws here? If you don't have an attorney I would suggest getting one quick!

The situation to me leaving md and coming to OH was because my ex was abusive to me. He did not have to give permission to allow me to move. And the court order I have is the one granting me full custody and him having no visitation I am trying to allow him visitation with none being ordered yet I am a little scared he may try and keep him and not return him. I need to know if there is a legal standing preventing him from keeping him with me having custody already. He did not show up at our Ohio hearing so I got default custody Anything you suggest?

I think we answered you already. I have concerns about the validity of the Ohio order if you didn't have time to establish residency.

I established residency after 90 days of being here.. that has already been decided and the order wasn't made until march 17th therfore making it almost 4 months

Ok, then Ohio has a short residency period. In that case your cusotdy has been established and will be recognized by Maryland.

When it comes to child custody jurisdiction it is not correct to speak of a "state residency requirement." No. the relevant law is the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) in both Maryland and Ohio and "home state" jurisdiction is established after a 6 month period in which the children have resided in the state (assuming there is no existing order for child custody order from another state with a stay-behind parent). But "home state jurisdiction" is not the only way to establish child custody jurisdiction under the UCCJEA; the next level down the ladder so-to-speak is "significant connection/substantial evidence jurisdiction", and after that there's a 3rd basis, and after that there's a 4th ("default") basis for jurisdiction, and then there's always a "temporary emergency" basis of jurisdiction, but that has limitations on it and can involve a court-to-court meet and confer issue. You see, it's far more complicated than a simple "state residency requirement" and the UCCJEA is not exactly the easiest statute to comprehend.

Now, having said all of that, the orders and decrees of any state are presumptively valid and entitled to full faith and credit in ALL states unless and until a court somewhere declares those orders invalid. So we have to assume that the Ohio court was convinced it had UCCJEA jurisdiction to make custody orders in the first place and yes, Maryland would have to recognize them. That's full faith and credit. That's part of the federal 1980 PKPA and the US Constitution.

I wonder what's really going on ? From what I have found the Ohio residency requirement is 6 months and not 90 days. Sounds like somewhere there is a big mistake going on.

Ohio Divorce Source: State Divorce Laws: Ohio

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Originally Posted by cinderella10383

Well here is my question.
My estranged husband and I seperated back in Nov 2008, we have 1 child in common and I have a child from a previous relationship, He has raised that child since she was an infant as his own child. To make this short enough I moved from Maryland to Ohio with the children and I currently have temporary full custody, I however am trying to come to an agreement with him so he may visit with the children in his state of Maryland over spring break and summer etc.. I am unsure though if my court order from Ohio stands in Maryland and I do not want to keep fighting with him but I also do not want to send my children there and him refuse to return them. Should I allow my children to go to Maryland for 9 days and pray he returns them or should I wait until we have a court oder from Maryland like the one we have from Ohio? I want him to be involved if anyone has any suggestions please let me know!!
Thanks,
Mom trying to be nice to Dad

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Based on what Im seeing the court order should be declared invalid from Ohio and should have been taken care of before you left. Im surprised that Ohio even heard the case if they had all the facts correctly in their documents.

Well the reason Ohio originally took the case on was because of a protective order issued for me and my children not allowing my ex to have any contact due to abuse issues such as domestic and child related.. I was forced to leave Maryland in order to survive and he is the reason the police had to come and get me and the children out of the home... so you see I'm conflicted

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Originally Posted by cinderella10383

Well the reason Ohio originally took the case on was because of a protective order issued for me and my children not allowing my ex to have any contact due to abuse issues such as domestic and child related.. i was forced to leave maryland in order to survive and he is the reason the police had to come and get me and the children out of the home...so you see im conflicted

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THANK YOU!

That's what we call "Temporary Emergency Jurisdiction" under the UCCJEA and it is totally appropriate in cases of domestic violence~!

Doesn't anyone ever read what I write about the UCCJEA? I know everyone would love to ignore it because it's complex and seems like a lot of lawyer mumbo jumbo but it's the law, my gosh, pay attention!:)

You can enforce your Ohio custody order in Maryland, no problem. Just check out that it's not time-limited by the order reading that it expires on a given date or that an action on Maryland has to be filed within a given period.

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Originally Posted by califdadof3

I wonder whats really going on ? From what I have found the ohio residency requirement is 6 months and not 90 days. Sounds like somewhere there is a big mistake going on.

Ohio Divorce Source: State Divorce Laws: Ohio

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It doesn't matter what the state's residency requirements are for divorces--those vary all over the country (Nevada's is 6 weeks, for example)-- they have NOTHING to do with child custody jurisdiction or the UCCJEA. You can have jurisdiction to get a divorce in state A but no jurisdiction over custody of the kids in state A (maybe only in state B). It happens all the time.

Thank you for someone paying attention... see I'm only trying to allow him to visit the children to be nice.. I however have full temp custody and he has not been granted any visitation.. Im trying to see things from my kids point of view not my own but he is now trying to fight me in md for custody of our son and I don't want to take the risk of him running with him or getting an emer order there in md and my son be kept there so I don't know which way to go on this.. I was hoping he and I could work out a visitation agreement so we didn't have to put our children or ourselves through a nasty custody battle but I don't think he is going to play nice even for them

Get a lawyer.. do not allow your children to go until every aspect is ironed out and signed by a judge!! I repeat, do not allow your children to go!! READ WHAT I WENT THROUGH...

Thanks to everyone for responding you guys have helped me in lots of ways and no way in hell am I sending my kids there without a final order of custody being granted I'm not taking the chance I have raised my son for 8 years and I am not turning him over so he could be taken from me.. Thanks again and I will keep you updated I look for more posts from you along the way THANKS!