Mama (or Daddy) Took The Kids!
Here's a fairly common fact pattern: one parent (usually the mother) leaves, and takes some or all of the kids with her. What can you do?
First, of course, it is critical to get a Phoenix Divorce Lawyer involved right away. To see why, let's look at the concept of "jurisdiction".
Jurisdiction is the term lawyers use to describe the court's authority to act. We will focus here on two types of jurisdiction: subject matter jurisdiction (the ability of the court to make decisions regarding the subject at issue), and personal jurisdiction (the ability of the court to order a particular person to do or not do specific things). This post will focus on subject matter jurisdiction and out of state children.
The Unform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) was created by a panel of experts to serve as a suggested child custody act that states should adopt. Arizona and 45 other states have chosen to adopt it. In Arizona, it is codified at A.R.S. 25-1031 and subsequent sections. 25-1031 provides that Arizona courts have jurisdiction to make an initial child custody determination under certain circumstances. One such circumstance is if Arizona is the "home state" of the child on the date of the commencement of the child custody proceeding, "or was the home state of the child within six months before the commencement of the proceeding and the child is absent from this state but a parent or person acting as a parent continues to live in this state." "Home state", according to A.R.S. 25-1202, means "the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as parent for at least six consecutive months immediately preceding the time of filing a petition or a comparable pleading for support and, if a child is less than six months old, the state in which the child lived from birth with any of them. A period of temporary absence of any of them is counted as part of the six month or other period."
So if Arizona is the last state in which the kids have lived for six consecutive months, and mama took them and went to live with her parents in LA, you can file your child custody action here
if you do it within 6 months of her leaving Arizona. Otherwise, you will have to file your custody action in LA--which is more expensive and a pain the neck for you. You can still file for
divorce in Arizona, and an Arizona court can enter a decree of divorce, but Arizona will not have the authority to award custody of the children.