Helpful Articles
Moving a Custody Case to a New State
I recently fielded a question on an anonymous online forum and thought it would be important to share because the laws on custody when multiple States are involved can be difficult to navigate. The law touching on this issue is the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), and it’s one of the few laws that every State has passed, and they are all worded the same in every State.
The question was as follows (with slight modifications to further protect this person’s identity): “I filed motions regarding parental rights/responsibilities back mid-to-late 2023. Those motions were put aside in order to hear a Petition to Relocate filed by my ex to move to the West Coast with the children. That motion to relocate was granted without my pending motion being heard. While changes were made to my parenting time (even just due to the distance the children were removed), it did not address all the issues/requests made in my motion and it is still pending. Since neither parent currently lives in the court with jurisdiction, would there be any benefit (or detriment) to requesting a change in venue to my local county court?
Clearly what happened is that since the custody / relocation ruling (relocation used to be called “removal”), both parents have moved from the State that made the custody ruling. And while typically, once a State has made a custody ruling, the UCCJEA states that the State has continuing and exclusive jurisdiction over all future custody issues in that case, there are two exceptions: (1) when that State later declines jurisdiction (usually when a parent prevails on a motion asking for the declination), or (2) when both parents have moved from the State, either parent may file in the State where the children reside.
So, I answered this person as follows: “It depends. If you moved to the State where the other parent and children reside, it would make sense to me unless where you live the custody laws are less favorable than in Illinois. If she moved to California, for example and you moved to Florida, you would not be able to move the case to Florida – only to California. So, it would probably be better to keep the case in Illinois. Basically, you can’t move the case to where either parent lives, your only options are to stay put in Illinois or move the case to where the children now reside. I hope this information was helpful.
If you have a UCCJEA issue or believe a similar issue may surface in the near future, feel free to contact me for a free phone consultation. Paul D. Nordini (630) 306-6300.
