Establishing Jurisdiction for a Custody Case
How do I prove that the child has been residing with me in Tulsa in order to establish jurisdiction for a custody case? That’s the question that we received online that I can answer for you is how is it normally proven where the child resides?
Okay, so we’re talking about filing for a child custody case. Jurisdiction is going to be based on the residence of the child under the UCCJEA. But sometimes there’s disputes related to that. So how do you prove that?
Proving Residency
Well, the first main way is when you file your paperwork, you’ve got to file a UCCJEA affidavit anyway. That’s an affidavit. So when you sign that you’re affirming under oath penalty of perjury, that those facts are true. So the first thing is going to be your testimony in the form of an affidavit filed with the court. That’s the first way that you prove it.
When the other side responds, they’ve got to file a UCCJEA affidavit as well. Well, are they going to put facts under oath there that contradict your facts? Maybe maybe not. So just by filing the affidavit, getting the response of pleading of their affidavit that narrows down what’s really a dispute and what’s really not as far as where the child has been residing.
Evidence and Testimony
And if there’s still a dispute there, you’re going to want to look for other evidence. So obviously you can give testimony at court because sometimes the child was here three days a week, four days a week, and there could be disputes there. We need to get the facts. Sometimes parents are lying. So how else could you prove that?
Well, is there a school that the child attends that is in your jurisdiction and not in the other parent’s jurisdiction that’d be good evidence? How about church attendants who can get somebody to testify from there? It’s mostly going to be eyewitness testimony. I mean, do you have friends? Are there family members that can testify?
Consult an Attorney for Guidance
Yeah, I know the child resides there, the child’s there every night. So most of the time it’s going to be in the form of witnesses and testimony, whether it’s in the affidavit or in court testimony under oath from the parties or other witnesses. Sometimes it could be school records and other things that would demonstrate that. But that’s how you’d go about proving custody.
The first thing is you file your pleadings with the UCCJA affidavit. If there’s a dispute that comes up from there, that’s when you know what you need more proof on and can look for. If you’ve got questions about that in your specific case, though, you’re going to want to talk to an attorney about that privately and confidentially to get that scheduled with an attorney at my office and go online to MakeLawEasy.com.
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