How to Obtain Child Support After Relocating From the Father's State of Residence

My question involves child support in the State of: FL and WV.

My 7 month old son and I just moved to WV. He was born in FL and I am a FL resident.

My sons father has not spoken to me since I was 8 weeks pregnant and is knee-deep in legal proceedings involving multiple VOPs in FL.

I have no intention in returning to FL, but intend to stay and raise our Simon WV.

I have never seemed child support. What state has jurisdiction?

Thank you!

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son* not Simon
sought* not seemed

When was the case filed in Florida?
When did you move to WV? Most likely FL has jurisdiction.
Why did you move the child away from his Father? When did you file for child support?

no case has been established. there have been zero legal proceedings and he's not on the birth certificate. I have not filed for support.

I moved to WV to be with family.

You either litigate in Florida, wait six months and litigate in West Virginia while serving the father in Florida, or start litigating in West Virginia before the six month mark at risk that the father will commence litigation in Florida and assert that the litigation occur in that state as the child's home state under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) -- perhaps also asking that the court order that the child be returned to Florida pending the outcome of the litigation.

ANSWER the rest of the questions. When did you move to WV? Why did you move the child away from FL?

If you have not filed for child support, dad owes you nothing.

We have been in WV for one month.
His father basically disappeared in the beginning of my pregnancy just before telling me that he hopes I have a miscarriage. He hasn't tried to contact me. Not a single word.

Do I initiate CS in WV immediately? or do I need to wait six months?

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ah, I misread previous poster. basically, I need to wait 6 months before initiating in WV to avoid risking FL taking jurisdiction.

how do I prove our date of arrival in WV to child support enforcement?

Once the child has been domiciled in West Virginia for six months, it should be pretty uncontroversial for the court to hold that West Virginia is the child's home state for custody litigation. If dad doesn't file anything in Florida during that time, the case should stay in West Virginia. As the father has no contact with West Virginia that would allow the state to apply its own child support formula, he can ask that the Florida support formula be applied in the calculation of any child support.

thank you, mr. knowitall.

how do I prove our date of arrival? I have a copy of our flight itinerary. will this suffice or do I need another form of documentation?

That's up to you.

You do not have to justify your relocation to anybody here - you will only have to justify it if Dad opposes the move. He hasn't seen the child at all, he hasn't bothered to establish paternity and at 7 months old I believe the court (in Florida) would be hard pushed to disallow the relocation.

If you wait until you've been in WV for 6 months, it's a non issue.

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Quoting SingleMom555

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thank you, mr. knowitall.

how do I prove our date of arrival? I have a copy of our flight itinerary. will this suffice or do I need another form of documentation?

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Have you had your driving license changed from FL to WV?