Oklahoma Follows a Uniform Set of Laws Regarding Custody Jurisdiction
Video Transcribed: Can I move my custody case to Oklahoma? I’m Tulsa Child Custody Attorney, James Wirth. That’s the question that we have today. It’s one that we hear frequently at the Wirth Law Office when dealing with family law matters because people move.
Children move with different parents. Parents move to different jurisdictions. Cases get left behind sometimes. Sometimes one parent is in one state, and one parent is in the other state, and everybody wants the court case to be close to them. They want that home-field advantage, make the other party have to travel and not you have to travel.
So can you move your out-of-state custody case to Oklahoma? Well, most states in the United States have signed laws to be part of the UCCJEA, and that is just a uniform set of laws regarding custody jurisdiction in the United States, and Oklahoma is a member of that.
We have passed those laws, and the way those laws work is once a court case is filed and an order has been entered, a final order has been entered there, that court has continuing exclusive jurisdiction, meaning you can’t just move it to another court until the parties move out of state. So as long as one party is still in that state, then it’s got to happen in that state, anything moving forward. Okay?
So if both parties have left the state, then you can get a certified copy of that order, and file it in the state that now would have original jurisdiction. If this were a new case, docket it there, and give notice to the other side.
However, if both parties or one of the parties is still in the state, continuing exclusive jurisdiction remains, but that doesn’t mean that there are no circumstances where you can move it out of that state. What it means is that that state maintains control of it and that state has to be the one to say that it can be transferred.
So under those scenarios, you would have to file in that state and say, “This is an inconvenient form. Because it’s inconvenient we should transfer it to another state.”
And there are a number of factors under the UCCJEA in determining whether it’s an inconvenient form or not. You file that motion. You make the arguments, and if that court decides it can be transferred, at that point, it can be transferred to another state that would have original jurisdiction if it were a new case.
So hopefully that answers your questions regarding whether you can move your family law case to Oklahoma, but you really got to talk to an attorney about your specific circumstances, because things can be different in your particular case, and you’re going to want specific advice based on that. To get that scheduled with a Tulsa Attorney my office you can go online to Makelaweasy.com.
