Texas Judge Forbids Lesbian Woman From Living With Her Partner

[Xithras]

60. Leaving the county isn't an option either.

The Uniform Child Custody and Enforcement Act set a national standard for this sort of thing. Once jurisdiction is established in one court, it cannot be moved to another court unless both parents agree. The law was created as a way to end situations where one parent would skip a state with the kids and request custody in another state, leaving the kids under two competing custody orders. As the law exists now, the first one takes precedence.

FWIW, I have a good friend who has been dealing with a complication of this law for years. He and his ex wife lived in Reno when they divorced and were granted custody arrangements. Since then, he's moved back to California, and she has moved to Arizona. Because neither of them can agree on where the jurisdiction should be moved to (she obviously wants Arizona, and he wants California), they both end up having to go all the way back to Reno whenever they need to deal with a dispute. It's dumb, but it's better than having courts in Arizona and California issuing competing orders (which is how things worked until fairly recently).

At this point, the only state she can move to is Mass. The other 49 states have adopted the federal standard. If she moved to California, or New York, or Iowa, or any other state where her relationship wouldn't be discriminated against, she'd still have to deal with that original court and judge unless the other party signed off on changing the jurisdiction. Any attempt to file for a competing custody agreement in those states would be slapped down.