POLL for CP & NCP who live in different counties/states
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I was wondering if you are the CP or NCP and whether the CO is filed in the CP's county/state or NCP's county/state.
I am sure that there is a reason why they do things the way they do...but my H (NCP) has his hearings in BM's county. Whereas, I (CP) have my hearings in the NCP's county.
What gives?
I wanted to know what the general experience was with this.
Thank you.
Generally the
Generally the hearings/filings take place in the county they originated in. My brothers (NCP) daughter use to live in X county with BM (CP). My brother lived in Y county. BM moved with bro's daughter to Arizona. Even though BM and daughter no longer lived in X county, and my brother lived in Y county, he still had to file paperwork in X county. Is that totally confusing?
In my case, BD fled the state
In my case, BD fled the state and they didn't catch up with him again until my DS was almost 10. They filed in the state he fled to.
So, even though, DS and I live in the same state DS was born in and we live in, if I want to be at a hearing, I'd have to travel quite far to get to it. I know that you can attend by phone - NOW.
Also, any payment, correspondence, questions, etc. get funneled through my state AND his state so it gets to be a long drawn out process. And we ALL know how easy it is to work with Child Support Enforcement staff!! Ha!
I just thought it was strange that my H has to travel to his hearings whereas I would ALSO have to travel to my hearings, if I wanted to be there.
It is in the original state
It is in the original state it was filed in - I think part of the reason they do this is that say my BM wanted to move to New York this year and we only have 20 more months to pay where she is then we would have to pay until 21 and then I would have to kill someone - also if someone lives in a state like New York I am sure that every NCP that has to pay CS would be pushing it to be in any other state besides New york.
The thing that really scares me is the when SS went back to his BM we never went to court - so I am wondering if she could move to New York next year and instead of having 10 months left to pay we would have to pay until SS turns 21 - I could see her doing something like that. Does anyone know if she could do that?!?!?!?!
It really depends on the type
It really depends on the type of Court Order you are referring to.
Assuming you are talking about Custody & Visitation, the hearings continue to take place in the court where they were originally filed and heard unless all parties to the case have relocated outside that jurisdiction. If all parties have relocated, then the court proceedings will then take place where the CP resides because custody/visitation cases follow the child.
On the other hand, my understanding is that Child Support hearings will usually take place where the NCP resides because that is the only place that would have jusrisdiction over the NCP to enforce the order through legal means like jail time if necessary.
In both cases I have witnessed the long-distance party being granted the permission to appear telephonically when requested. However more than 500 miles separated the two parties to the case, which is not a "reasonable" distance to commute to for a court hearing if you have limited funds. Of course I couldn't for the life of me understand why someone seeking custody or visitation or enforcement of such would not want to at least make an appearance in an attempt to exercise said rights? (Can you tell I've BTDT?)
Idk. I always thought it was
Idk. I always thought it was in the original county everything was filed. In our case it is the county where bm (CP) and ss live. However, for someone I know (NCP) the bm (CP) moved out of state and everything is still in the county where everything was originally filed- even though neither party lives in that county anymore! Both have to travel to the original county for court.
Well maybe it's
Well maybe it's state-specific, or maybe no one has actually filed to change the venue/jurisdiction? I don't know of any court that will automatically just change it for you or even tell you that you need to change it if you move for that matter - they will just let you continue to appear there if you continue to submit to their jurisdiction. I know in my case I literally had to fail to appear at a hearing before the court bothered to even review my challenge of jurisdiction I filed in sufficient time prior to the hearing. Then, when they did review it, they quickly noted that the Petitioner needed to file in the proper jurisdiction as I had indicated. Too bad for the Petitioner that he'd driven over 600 miles for the 5 minutes it took for them to dismiss the case and tell him to file elsewhere (however, no sympathy from me since his motives for filing were quite sinister anyway - I thought it served him right!)
I would suggest you consult with an attorney regarding your options. I did all of this pro se and I performed all of my own legal research to make sure I was up on all of the current rules of civil procedure and local statutes that applied to my case before I filed anything. Of course eveything didn't go as I'd have liked but it doesn't always go the way you'd like with an attorney either, so I just saved my money. In the end though, it was a lot of work, and I would NOT recommend going to court without an attorney unless both parties are not represented so that at least you are no less naive about the legalities of the situation than your non-legal professional opponent.
(Sorry I went off on a tangent, but I do so love playing amateur counsel!)