Change of Venue from Nebraska to Minnesota

My question involves a child custody case from the State of Nebraska. I now live in Minnesota. My ex is in the process of moving, or has already moved, my daughter into Iowa. Divorce and custody has been a nightmare. The judge, in Nebraska, was her foster parent and guardian ad litem when my ex's parents divorced. Apparently, a district court judge in Nebraska does not have to recuse himself for such things.

This means he ignored everything I said, every bit of evidence I offered, every statement or witness I presented. I've also had a string of bad attorneys who I felt really dropped the ball. The only victory I've scored so far occurred when I started representing myself.

Through a ridiculous chain of events, my ex has sole physical custody of my daughter. I get her one weekend a month, and on a rotating holiday schedule. She is not to smoke around her, and is to continue counseling for her. She is also to avoid drugs or drug users, may not leave Nebraska with her without my permission, must give me 30 days written notice of any moves and full names of anyone living with her.

Well, she smokes, leaving my daughter with multiple respiratory infections, stopped counseling as soon as the trial ended, uses and sells drugs, is moving in with one of her dealers in Iowa (has actually moved), without prior notice, and denies me visits at her whim. She pretty much does as she pleases, because this judge has never enforced any order against her.

If I understand correctly, her moving from Nebraska opens the door for me to move the case to Minnesota or Iowa, where I might have a fair hearing. My family and I have poured over $30k into this case already. We're tapped. I will have to represent myself. I don't do too bad with research, procedure, documentation or filing as long as I know where to look. Can anyone give me a basic rundown of how I can start the ball rolling to change venue from Nebraska to Minnesota? Also, is there any recourse against this judge for his obvious bias in this case? (He made up statements that were never made during the hearing, or any other time.)

Quick question - what is it you hope to accomplish by changing jurisdiction?

(Custody has already been decided, yes?)

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Quoting MRHIGHSPEED

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If I understand correctly, her moving from Nebraska opens the door for me to move the case to Minnesota or Iowa, where I might have a fair hearing.

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You've not provided any factual basis for jurisdiction to be moved to Minnesota. Once the child has been in Iowa for six or more months, assuming there is no pending issue in Nebraska, it is potentially possible to convince an Iowa court to assume jurisdiction.

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Quoting MRHIGHSPEED

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My family and I have poured over $30k into this case already. We're tapped. I will have to represent myself.

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If the outcome you achieved litigating against mom with the help of a lawyer is one weekend per month and rotating holidays, despite your claiming that your ex- is a drug user who lives with a drug dealer, it's unlikely that you're going to do better without a lawyer. From the little you've shared it sounds like the judge didn't believe your allegations about the mother, and those allegations ended up backfiring.

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Quoting MRHIGHSPEED

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Can anyone give me a basic rundown of how I can start the ball rolling to change venue from Nebraska to Minnesota?

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Again, you have provided no basis for jurisdiction to be moved to Minnesota. I doubt that mom's going to consent and, even if she did, the court may still say "This isn't the correct state, the child is domiciled in Iowa."

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Quoting MRHIGHSPEED

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Also, is there any recourse against this judge for his obvious bias in this case? (He made up statements that were never made during the hearing, or any other time.)

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If you don't like a judge's ruling, you can appeal.

Original custody case is in NE
Mom moving with child to IA
You live in MN

Under this scenario and per UCCJEA, once child has established residence in IA, jurisdiction may move to from NE to IA (NOT Minnesota).

This would require filing of a suit for modification of custody, which would require a bona fide change of circumstances to justify filing suit in the first place.

You would then petition the NE court to relinquish jurisdiction. Given neither parent or child no longer reside in NE, it is generally a given a court will relinquish jurisdiction, though not an absolute. There are some factors which may prevent this.

If IA does take jurisdiction, you must understand that the legal presumption is the last order by the NE court was in the child's best interest, and continues to be. You must rebut that presumption. The new court will NOT allow you to relitigate any old issues leading up to the original order. You may only raise issues since the last order was rendered.

An IA court will be strongly disinclined (to put it nicely) to change the custody order, especially for a pro se parent who lives in another state.

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Quoting Dogmatique

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Quick question - what is it you hope to accomplish by changing jurisdiction?
(Custody has already been decided, yes?)

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My daughter was diagnosed by psychologists and therapists here with Reactive Attachment Disorder, which her mother ignores. I would hope to accomplish several things:
• Move away from a crooked and corrupt judge who fabricates information to justify his decisions in favor of his former foster-child,
• Move my child back to me, where she can get ongoing help and therapy that her mother stopped as soon as the trial was over,
• Move my child into a state where she can receive better healthcare,
• Move my child, who was born with respiratory issues, to a house where nobody smokes,
• Move my child out of an environment filled with drug-use,
• Move my child to an environment where she has siblings that love her, instead of being alone,
• Move my child to an environment where both parents work and pay bills – her mother hasn’t held a job for about six years now,
• Regain some semblance of control over when I get to see my child, instead of her mother’s arbitrary whims,
• Move my child to where the money I pay for her wellbeing actually goes to her wellbeing,
• Move my child to a decent house that is paid for and secure, instead of moving her around from one crash pad to another.
That’s just off the top of my head. And yes, custody was decided. The original decree was 50/50 joint custody, after which her mother immediately signed her over to live with me and move to Minnesota for me, then decided she wanted to collect child support, so sued for custody and got it by lying on the stand.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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You've not provided any factual basis for jurisdiction to be moved to Minnesota. Once the child has been in Iowa for six or more months, assuming there is no pending issue in Nebraska, it is potentially possible to convince an Iowa court to assume jurisdiction.

If the outcome you achieved litigating against mom with the help of a lawyer is one weekend per month and rotating holidays, despite your claiming that your ex- is a drug user who lives with a drug dealer, it's unlikely that you're going to do better without a lawyer. From the little you've shared it sounds like the judge didn't believe your allegations about the mother, and those allegations ended up backfiring.

Again, you have provided no basis for jurisdiction to be moved to Minnesota. I doubt that mom's going to consent and, even if she did, the court may still say "This isn't the correct state, the child is domiciled in Iowa."
If you don't like a judge's ruling, you can appeal.

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She failed two court-ordered drug tests. The judge first ignored them, and then the results disappeared from the case file. It shows they were ordered, but no results remain in record. The attorneys I had seemed to be interested only in padding their bill and coasting through the whole thing. Despite my repeated requests to see about a guardian ad litem, no request was made to the court. Despite the evidence I provided the attorneys in the form of financial and tax statements, copies of bills, sworn affidavits from psychologists and therapists and arrest reports from when she kidnapped her from me, the only consideration the judge made was testimony from a MSW her atty. hired, who admitted on the stand that all of his information came from the mother’s statements, rather than one on one examination of my daughter.
She was even allowed to plead the Fifth for much of her testimony, despite the fact this was not a criminal case. See above for my basis for changing venue. In Nebraska, you cannot appeal a custody decision. You can ask the same judge to review the decision. You can imagine why I’m not choosing that route.
I know this is a lot of one-sided information. I know there are three sides to every story. I work in law enforcement and see it all the time. I’m just desperate to get my daughter out of a bad situation, and it just won’t happen with this judge sitting on the case.

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Quoting tex11

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This would require filing of a suit for modification of custody, which would require a bona fide change of circumstances to justify filing suit in the first place.

You would then petition the NE court to relinquish jurisdiction.....

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Until the UCCJEA petition is filed, asking a court to register the foreign custody order and accept jurisdiction, the court cannot entertain a "suit for modification of custody" as the state that issued the existing order will have continuing, exclusive jurisdiction. The petitioner's UCCJEA petition is filed with the court that you want to accept jurisdiction, not the court that you hope will cede jurisdiction.

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, I have to first, file a petition with the District Court in Nebraska, and hope that the crooked judge will let the case go. Then, I have to file a petition with Iowa (MN isn't a possibility?) to accept the responsibility for the existing order, then sue for a custody change in the new jurisdiction. Is that correct?

Minnesota is NOT an option under UCCJEA, and will not be considered.

Iowa is only an OPTION once the child has lived there long enough to establish residency.

From what you have stated, odds are your Nebraska judge will simply refuse to cede jurisdiction, and the mother will agree to that. If that happens your only avenue is a state court of appeals in Nebraska. That is an unequivocal dead end for any pro se with a child custody appeal.

So, my daughter has to be living in IA for six months before I can even try to do something? And even then, it's up to this same judge? And I have no real recourse?

Lovely.

It's great how a judge can do whatever he wants with no accountability.

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I appreciate all of the information and advice. It's very frustrating.