[romola]

No custody established, no child support order, father not named on baby's birth certificate,

1) CAN I MOVE LEGAL WITHIN THE STATE? CA

2) HOW COSTLY AND TIME CONSUMING IS IT FOR HIM TO ESTABLISH PATERNITY?

THANK YOU

[stevetcg]

1) depends on how far you wish to move and depends on what court orders exist.

2) it might cost a minor court fee, but its generally less than $40 to file for paternity. The process can take a few months, but the length of the process can be mitigated by a number of factors, including the custodial parent trying to move.

[romola]

1) depends on how far you wish to move and depends on what court orders exist.

2) it might cost a minor court fee, but its generally less than $40 to file for paternity. The process can take a few months, but the length of the process can be mitigated by a number of factors, including the custodial parent trying to move.

Nothing is established ,no court order at all, no paternity,no child support, no father mentioned on birth certificate.

Can I move within Ca? Say from la to san francisco or
La to san diego? What does the difference in miles mean.

Thank you for taking the time to read and answer.

[stevetcg]

Nothing is established ,no court order at all, no paternity,no child support, no father mentioned on birth certificate.

Can I move within Ca? Say from la to san francisco or
la to san diego? What does the difference in miles mean.

Thank you for taking the time to read and answer.

The mileage makes all the difference in the world. If for instance your move causes the father to have to travel more than an hour (or whatever the threshold is for your state) the move has to be approved.

But without a custody order, you can do whatever you want. If he files for paternity, if you have already moved then it becomes moot if you are still in the same state. He cannot force you to move back. If he files before you establish a new residence however, he might be able to. State laws vary and I am no expert on CA law.

[cadillac59]

The mileage makes all the difference in the world. If for instance your move causes the father to have to travel more than an hour (or whatever the threshold is for your state) the move has to be approved.

But without a custody order, you can do whatever you want. If he files for paternity, if you have already moved then it becomes moot if you are still in the same state. He cannot force you to move back. If he files before you establish a new residence however, he might be able to. State laws vary and I am no expert on CA law.

The mileage makes all the difference in the world. If for instance your move causes the father to have to travel more than an hour (or whatever the threshold is for your state) the move has to be approved.

Has to be approved or did you mean disallowed? Either way, the mileage makes little or no difference in most cases, unless it's a move down the street (we treat international move-aways a little different however).

If he files for paternity, if you have already moved then it becomes moot if you are still in the same state. He cannot force you to move back. If he files before you establish a new residence however, he might be able to.


I can't say I agree. Why would it matter if the petition were filed after a move versus before? The courts don't take that sort of wooden approach to the subject I'm afraid.

Without reading the entire thread, I will say that a move away in California can be one within the state and can even be of fairly short distance. The seminal move-away case in California, Marriage of Burgess, involved a move of only 40 miles. So, there really are no simple guidelines on distance that we follow.

The easy way to generalize about this move-away conundrum is to say that to win your move-away request (over objection of course) you are going to need a favorable child custody evaluation. That's what I tell clients.

You just cannot rely on simple favors like mileage, whether the move is before the case is filed or after, or any other little tests we'd all like to invent to answer the question. It's just too complicated of a subject to generalize about, and these cases are almost always won or lost on the outcome of a custody eval.

[stevetcg]

The mileage makes all the difference in the world. If for instance your move causes the father to have to travel more than an hour (or whatever the threshold is for your state) the move has to be approved.

Has to be approved or did you mean disallowed? Either way, the mileage makes little or no difference in most cases, unless it's a move down the street (we treat international move-aways a little different however).

If he files for paternity, if you have already moved then it becomes moot if you are still in the same state. He cannot force you to move back. If he files before you establish a new residence however, he might be able to.


I can't say I agree. Why would it matter if the petition were filed after a move versus before? The courts don't take that sort of wooden approach to the subject I'm afraid.

Without reading the entire thread, I will say that a move away in California can be one within the state and can even be of fairly short distance. The seminal move-away case in California, Marriage of Burgess, involved a move of only 40 miles. So, there really are no simple guidelines on distance that we follow.

The easy way to generalize about this move-away conundrum is to say that to win your move-away request (over objection of course) you are going to need a favorable child custody evaluation. That's what I tell clients.

You just cannot rely on simple favors like mileage, whether the move is before the case is filed or after, or any other little tests we'd all like to invent to answer the question. It's just too complicated of a subject to generalize about, and these cases are almost always won or lost on the outcome of a custody eval.

My point about filing for paternity is that right now, there is no custody and no court involvement. If she moves now, there is no way to disallow it because there is no court order. She cannot be expected to just sit there and wait in case he decides someday he wants to be a father.

[ScottGem]

No custody established, no child support order, father not named on baby's birth certificate,

1) CAN I MOVE LEGAL WITHIN THE STATE? CA

2) HOW COSTLY AND TIME CONSUMING IS IT FOR HIM TO ESTABLISH PATERNITY?

THANK YOU

First, it looks like you opened two separate threads for this. Please don't. Your threads were merged.

Second, please don't presume to dictate who can respond to your posts or the nature of those responses. As long as the response does not violate the rules of the site, a member can post. If you think a respone violates our rules then report it.

Finally, I'm not sure if you are fully understanding the answers you are getting. The bottomline here is that he IS the father. If he chooses to exercise his rights (as it appears he will), then he has rights. The first step in his gaining rights is to file for custody. As part of that process, a paternity test will be ordered. So legal parentage WILL be established. Once that happens, if you try to move without court permission, then he can force you to return and you could lose primary custody.

It doesn't matter that he is not on the birth certificate, the only thing that matters is that he wants to be a part of the child's life.

[cadillac59]

My point about filing for paternity is that right now, there is no custody and no court involvement. If she moves now, there is no way to disallow it because there is no court order. She cannot be expected to just sit there and wait in case he decides someday he wants to be a father.

True. If that is what you meant, I don't disagree at all.

The only thing you can really say is that these cases almost always require a custody evaluation to be decided (either a partial or full 730 as we call them). Without an eval, they are extremely risky for the moving parent and likely to be lost. That's my experience anyway.

I had a client once (actually I was one of several in a string of attorneys she had) who moved from California to Georgia with her kid; the dad filed his case about 2 months after she had moved and settled in in Georgia, and the case was hotly contested (the parties were never married, just as in this OP's case). After a long (2 year) custody battle, a full 730 custody evaluation, and about $30,000 in attorney fees spent by the dad, the mom lost custody and the kid was returned to California and to this day lives with his dad. A big surprise for the mom.

It's very difficult to predict how these cases will turn out and they can become very complicated and expensive very quickly. The point is, it is impossible to generalize about them or formulate any reliable guidelines about how they will turn out (other than to say the parties need a custody eval).

[cadillac59]

1) depends on how far you wish to move and depends on what court orders exist.

2) it might cost a minor court fee, but its generally less than $40 to file for paternity. The process can take a few months, but the length of the process can be mitigated by a number of factors, including the custodial parent trying to move.

$40 to file for paternity? No. It's $350 plus another $40 for a hearing on custody. So, add another zero and you're closer. And the process probably takes on average about 1-2 years if contested.

Sorry to disagree with you Steve, because you give really good advice on this board and I know you care about giving good answers (and you do give good answers). But gosh, my state is broke and there's no way our courts are cheap to file in . In fact, we are looking at a court closure on every third Wednesday of the month effective in August due to budget constraints. So, keep in mind, the filing fee statewide is $350 in all family law cases. Plus, extra for motions.

[stevetcg]

$40 to file for paternity?! No. It's $350 plus another $40 for a hearing on custody. So, add another zero and you're closer. And the process probably takes on average about 1-2 years if contested.

Sorry to disagree with you Steve, because you give really good advice on this board and I know you care about giving good answers (and you do give good answers). But gosh, my state is broke and there's no way our courts are cheap to file in . In fact, we are looking at a court closure on every third Wednesday of the month effective in August due to budget constraints. So, keep in mind, the filing fee statewide is $350 in all family law cases. Plus, extra for motions.

Its $40 here in FL. Again... CA is different than FL... as it is different from just about everywhere.

As of course most places allow a sliding scale for people that cannot afford to pay full price.