Slidell City Court retains jurisdiction?

Mom lost custody of kids to her parents in Slidell City court.  All moved out of state - lived together - Mom is now fine, moved out on her own - nearby.  Mom and Gmom share kids 1/2 week at a time. 

Mom would like to have custody restored to her. 

Judgment says no changes without authorization of that court....what does Mom do?  She went to out of state lawyer and they said that they could not help her b/c of the wording of the Slidell judgment.  The case will have to be out of state b/c she'll have to be evaluated, home checked - drug/alcohol tested - how will this work? 

lalawchick

[My life has been crazier than a work of fiction.....who'da believed?]

City courts don't do custody. This would have to have been done in a district court. First, find out what court. Second, obtain copy of the order and determine what 'wording' causes the court in LA to retain jurisdiction. You could post JUST that wording here, with no names, if you like -- so we can give you more ideas.

In general, any time you want to have a court's jurisdiction changed, you're in for a big deal. Most of the time the cases will change jurisdiction under certain circumstances, one of which is that both parties have moved out of state. When that happens, usually jurisdiction ends up in the state in which the kids have lived if it is more than six months. This is where seeing the wording of the LA court would help.

Was the custody judgement a 'considered' judgement? THat means, did the judge do a hearing and hear evidence and then decide? Or did mom and GMom agree, and the judge approved it?

If it is a considered decree it will be much harder to get changed than if it was a decree that the parties agreed to.

Where is the kids' dad in all of this?

You could also pm me this info privately -- click my name and there will be a link to send private message (I think at the bottom, on this new system).

If the jurisdiction must be retained by the current court -- and there are ways that it might be possible to work around them saying they want jurisdiction, but again it is complicated -- then the mom can still be evaluated, have her home checked, and be drug and alcohol tested in the area in which she lives now. The court could appoint a private person (psychologist, counsellor, LSW, etc) to do it, or a public agency such as CFYD, or even a minister or a CASA appointee or another friend of the court. Also each area has drug courts and drug testing -- all of this can be arranged long distance if need be, and reported to the court of jurisdiction.

3kidsmom

It was done in Slidell City Court - it was considered a juvenile court matter and family law statutes are not applicable.  I have the option of filing a motion to grant the mother custody or move to have the court decline its jurisdiction, so the new state of residence can decide.  (Dad is in prison) I think the latter is the way to go so the new state can run its own evaluations. 

lalawchick

[My life has been crazier than a work of fiction.....who'da believed?]

are you the mother, or the gmom?

are mom and gmaom in the same jurisdiciton? if not, the other party can argue that the court in their area should have jurisdiction.....

if you are the mom I think i'd be asking the court in slidell to grant me (mom) jurisdiction AND to transfer jurisdiction to the family/domestic court in whatever county/district/parish you're in now......

3kidsmom

Yes, Slidell city court still has jurisdiction of the case.  They will until the case is moved.

"Mom is now fine  ... (but has to be evaluated)"

Color me skeptical. GMa should NOT agree to give up primary custody. 

The kid needs somebody who can be relied upon and it hasn't been the dad or the mom in this case.

Ordinarily, I would say that you would use the UCCJEA (Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act) rules to reset the jurisdiction of the case to the other state.  Given that both parties have moved to the other state, that should not be too much of a problem - assuming that both parties are in agreement.

However, If I were the GMa, I would not be turning back over custody voluntarily.

Nicholas James

GM splits the kids' time with the Mom now - 50/50 - so I think that would go a long way in proving that if she is capable half of the time, she is capable all of the time.  I think GM may contest, which is as it should be - let the court decide after it has all of the pertinent data.  Thanks!!

lalawchick

actually, the courts have already decided.

if under Louisiana law, mom has no chance if gma invokes BERGERON - the rule to keep cases from being perpetually litigated.

Nicholas James

[My life has been crazier than a work of fiction.....who'da believed?]

I'm going to differ with Nick on this one, simply because (like I said before) city courts don't have family court jurisdiction. They can only enter as part of a general juvenile or criminal matter. Bergernon would probably not apply just because it is not a family court.

Usually Nick and I agree on points of law. Here's a hint: if Nick and I disagree, it is a hint that the court (and potentially a court of second opinion or appeal) will also not quite know what to do.........

this could get interesting.

3kidsmom

Well - there has been a significant change in circumstances - I have to think the mom will get her kids back - its not the husband's parents - its her own parents.  GM got the kids b/c mom was in bad shape when husband took off.  Virginia will end up deciding.  I'll keep you both posted.

lalawchick

[My life has been crazier than a work of fiction.....who'da believed?]

I'm up in that general area of the coutnry now. They are very tight-butt up here. Virginia is fairly brutal in family court. It will be very interesting to see how it turns out, please keep us in the loop.

3kidsmom

This case will probably depend more on what Gma does than any point in law.

Make sure the mom you are representing really has recovered. 

Otherwise you may be doing these kids a very significant harm by taking them away from the stable influence in their lives.

Nicholas James

[My life has been crazier than a work of fiction.....who'da believed?]

Virginia courts are extremely conservative right now. They tend to look at religion first, everything else second. If one of the parties is invovled in church and the child is enrolled in sunday school, etc..........it will be hard to argue with in that court.

3kidsmom