Change of Venue

[roam_mt]

Hello. My husband and I fought for years to get custody of his son. With the help of this website we were able to do so. Now I am back for a little more help. Since we gained custody over 3 years ago, we have moved to another state (we have been here about 3 years). We are looking to have a child support modification and would like to have the case handled here where we are living. (Case was determined in Washington and we now reside in Oregon). We honestly do not have the money to hire an attorney as we are still paying off the last one :) !! So I am hoping someone here has some helpful information on getting a change of venue. Thank you!!

[lilywhite]

A change of venue is only for criminal cases.

If the other parent still lives in the state where the child support case now is, you can't change it. What you can do is to go to child support enforcement and ask them to open a case for you.  They can arrange through the other state to make sure that child support is collected and adjusted.

[John-J-Jay]

That's not true a change of venue can simply be the fact the child has resided in a certain county for 6 months to a year that county would not have jurisidction over the case. Where the child lives is the place of the court.

Just curious how did you regain custody 3 years ago? how did you show a change in circumstance and what was the change?

Go for as much child support as you can get!!!

[roam_mt]

We fought her for custody from 1995-1998 and she was awarded custody. We had visitation 3 weekends a month. Over the years it got the the point where even though the papers said 3 weekends a month she was letting us have him 3-5 days a week. Finally in 2002 she decided she was going to move to our old hometown which was 90 miles away to live with her boyfriend (which we had found out was a drug addict), we told her abosulutely not, we would fight her. So she literally gave him to us and moved. We waited a few months and my husband got a job offer 3 hours away (5 hours from her) so we moved and brought him with us. She decided a few months into it that she wanted him back (we were stupid and did not get the change of custody in writing), so she picked him up for Christmas vacation and never returned him. She enrolled him in school and basically laughed at us. So it was substantial enough for a modification. We fought her tooth and nail. I used this site to get all the information I could. I got my stepsons medical records, school records, counseling records, I ran criminal background checks on her and the people she had living with her. We stayed in contact with his school and all of his teachers. He went from having a 3.8 with us to a 1.7 gpa with her, he had 12 detentions in 2 months with her (never had any with us). Finally a week before our court date, she called me and told me she gave up, she would give us custody. The rest is history. Right now she never calls him (she texts him occasionally) and has seen him 2 times in over 2 years. It makes me so angry. We sacrificed so much so we could see him on our 3 weekends a month (at times that meant driving 10 hours roundtrip on Friday and 10 hours roundtrip on Sunday), but we did it because we love him. She doesn't even call. She thinks she is doing us a favor paying her little bit of child support. It doesn't even cover a quarter of his basic living costs and that doesn't include any of the cost of raising a teenager these days (sports, dances, annuals, fun, etc).

[John-J-Jay]

my view is to fight for every penny your step son is entitled to. I'm a custodial dad and my ex hasn't paid anything for child support, medical or anything for our child in 8 yrs. NOW because i want child support she is contesting custody and trying to make the whole thing difficult. NOT to mention she live 600 miles away.. But the court in my county holds jurisdiction because we have always lived there.

fight for what the boy is entitled to have.....

[janM]

If I understand correctly, child support stays with the person who pays it, as long as they are still in that state. Custody is wherever the child has lived for 6 months or more. I think in a case of divorce the case where it was settled keeps jurisdiction unless no one lives there anymore.

Am I right?

Also, you can try to get more support, and the court may grant it...but collecting it can be a challenge. Just because it's court ordered doesn't mean you'll get it. Just ask my son, his exgf is 12 grand in arrears. She's paid a whole $900 since '03.

[John-J-Jay]

Yes I believe you are correct. Isn't it amazing that a mom can get away without paying child support but a dad can't. I can't get my ex to pay anything and now she's contesting custody. GO FIGURE..

what state are you in?

[janM]

We're in northeast Ohio.