How Can My Husband Get Full Custody of His Son in Another State

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Florida

My husband's ex-girlfriend is offering to send his son to stay with us. We want him to come live with us but are afraid she will come unannounced and take him like she did last time. That incident disrupted our family immensely. She can be quite spiteful because she still has interest in my husband. She is presently going thru some hard times and needs assistance but this has not been the first time. We feel that this is traumatizing my step-son. Last time we lived in Florida but we now live in Texas. How do we go about establishing full custody or at least temporary custody? My husband signed the birth certificate but there has been no legal custody established. I just read we cannot enter the documents in Florida because we are no longer residents there. Can someone give me some insight?

Many thanks!

First understand this is not a WE thing with this custody matter, inasmuch as you cannot be a party to this, and the court will be unconcerned with you. The only thing the court will be concerned with is mom, dad, and child.

Are there child support orders in place?

As of now Florida is the ONLY state in which a custody proceeding can start on the child. Dad MUST file suit in Florida if he wants to start the ball rolling on establishing his legal rights of custody and possession.

The father could conceivably file an initial suit for custody rights in Texas only after the child has been in his possession and resided in Texas for at least six months.

But in either scenario, and given dad currently has no custodial rights other than what mom allows him, if dad files suit after the child is already with him in hopes of keeping him, it is unlikely dad will be able to do anything to stop mom from immediately picking up her child.

At this point dad should not bank on being given primary custody, at least not in the short term, if mom is expected to fight any such attempt.

If there is not a child support order in place (one reason many fathers procrastinate on establishing their legal rights), dad can certainly expect one to be in place shortly after filing suit.

Tex11, thank you for your input. I have no concerns as to how you feel about my saying WE. WE are married and MY husband has asked me to inquire on the issue. I am not concerned with your opinion of the courts. I asked for facts not opinions. You have provided some. Thank you. I am alarmed at this site, how it's a venue for negativity. I am also alarmed at society for thinking less of unions, such as marriages.

As for the child support, there is one in place. I figured that he would have to file in Florida. I appreciate your insight on what can happen once he tries to sue for custody. My husband want's what's in the best interest of his son. But WE don't want him torn out of our lives like last time.

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Quoting sexiegigi

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Tex11, thank you for your input. I have no concerns as to how you feel about my saying WE. WE are married and MY husband has asked me to inquire on the issue. I am not concerned with your opinion of the courts. I asked for facts not opinions. You have provided some. Thank you. I am alarmed at this site, how it's a venue for negativity. I am also alarmed at society for thinking less of unions, such as marriages.

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Tex11's comments as it relates to your use of the term 'we' were spot on in a legal sense. Continuing to use the term 'we', especially in a court room setting could quite possibly have a negative impact on the outcome of your husband's custody pursuit.

Nothing in Tex11's reply to your post was negative by any means.

I don't think I stated anywhere in my inquiry that I would be present at court. So this back and forth is on an assumption. I do appreciate your insight Neal1421 but you are not assisting in answering my original inquiry. Is there something you would like to say? Do you have any insight on ths topic?

I was trying to help you as it relates to this site as there is valuable information that can be gathered from the members here, however should you continue to have the current attitude that you have, I don't see many senior members being willing to help you in the future.

In regards to your original question, Tex11 already answered that for you.

Thank you Neal1421. I do not have an attitude. My apologies if it came off as such. Before I became a member of this site I read many posts and saw many people get cut down to threads when all they asked was a question. I do appreciate facts. That is my main point. I can get opinions from other forums. I hope I clarified the misunderstanding.

Tex11 was giving you some pretty helpful advice by asking you to avoid the WE stuff. That part of the advice was important, as I'm sure you don't want to negatively affect the outcome by talking like that.

Most posts on this forum perceived as "negative" are only perceived that way when the posters don't *like* the facts.

If there are no orders in place you should get something in place otherwise situations where the ex takes the kid unannounced will happen and there is not a lot anyone can do as the mother of the child she has a right just as the father does and without a court order in place nobody can do much of anything. As to the Texas/Florida issue there can be a problem with jurisdiction a few more facts to be flushed out. A lot of courts don't particularly like when one couple moves out of state before orders have been in place. If the mother lives in Florida she can request jurisdiction be in Florida and she may win, but you can file for Texas as well. Nobody can really know how that will play out.

As for the custody battle one thing to remember is that anonymosity that builds up between you, the mother, and your husband will not go away and the kid will grow up graduate from high school, college, get married, all that stuff and you should all be there, but I see custody battles go downhill real quick and every family judge will tell you nobody wins.

A final point that I think is worth knowing is that SOLE custody doesn't really mean anything at least in every state I am familiar with joint custody can be in place and you can be with the kid 100% of the time. Joint custody doesn't mean 50/50 time share, but if it is joint legal custody then both parents need to make decisions and have say which is fair unless the other parent is completely gone, but both sides of a divorce think about that other parent and you will need to proof everything you say. Accusations fly like crazy in family court and I would highly recommend if it is possible that you, your husband, and the mother just observe family court and see what a circus it is before you get into it. I think you see it before your one of the people spending thousands of dollars to be with the kid on Wednesday instead of Thursday you will know when to reign it a little bit. I have way to many custody battles get out of control really fast and the saying is in family court you see good people on their worst behavior.

To get the order in place you can contact your state bar's website either Texas or Florida not sure which one, use a site like this, legal match , or some states have something known as a self-help center where they will help you fill out the forms for free, but these are pretty crowded and not the greatest, but if money is tight they are an option. Good luck to you and everybody involved in the situation.

No, they cannot file in Texas.