You should immediately contact an attorney who knows his way around the juvenile courts system. There may be a way to have the Virginia courts intervene to protect you against losing custody of your children. Your attorney should advise you to immediately seek a custody hearing in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations General District Court in your locality. Under the circumstances you describe, you and your wife have equal legal custody of the children. Therefore, she is within her rights to remove them from Virginia. However, since Virginia is the children's legal residence, Virginia courts still have jurisdiction over them, and your wife -- for the time being. Once a Virginia court seeks to exercise its jurisdiction over the children and the parties, Indiana courts will have to defer jurisdiction to Virginia under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act. Once you have the matter before a Virginia court, it can hear evidence, make findings of fact, and render orders that will insure that the best interests of the children are protected. Based upon the evidence presented, you may be deemed to be the parent who can better fuirther the children's best interest and be given full custody of them.

Frequently Asked Questions

 


Q: I came home from work and found an empty house, plus a note from my wife saying that she wanted a divorce and she had taken the children with here back to Indiana. Can my wife take the children out of state permanently without my consent and without a court order permitting her to do so?

A: You should immediately contact an attorney who knows his way around the juvenile courts system. There may be a way to have the Virginia courts intervene to protect you against losing custody of your children.
Your attorney should advise you to immediately seek a custody hearing in the Juvenile and Domestic
Relations General District Court in your locality.

Under the circumstances you describe, you and your wife have equal legal custody of the children. Therefore, she is within her rights to remove them from Virginia. However, since Virginia is the children's legal residence, Virginia courts still have jurisdiction over them, and your wife -- for the time being. Once a Virginia court seeks to exercise its jurisdiction over the children and the parties, Indiana courts will have to defer jurisdiction to Virginia under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act.

Once you have the matter before a Virginia court, it can hear evidence, make findings of fact, and render orders that will insure that the best interests of the children are protected. Based upon the evidence presented, you may be deemed to be the parent who can better fuirther the children's best interest and be given full custody of them.


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