Change of Venue

[Worried Mom]

I moved to NC a year ago (end of April-first of May 2003) with my eight year old son. His father lives in MA. I sent him letters about the move 60 days before the move and right before the move. I never heard anything from him or a court.

We tired to call him four times after the move and I sent a letter with a visitation calendar for him to mark off when he wanted to see our son (the calendar had all school dates marked off and the vacations were open for visitation).

Papers were sent to me (regular mail at my old mailing address) on April 9, 2004 and filed with the MA courts on April 12, 2004 for a Motion to Require Child's Return to the Comonwealth of Massachusetts. The motion is set to be heard on April 27, 2204 in the MA court.

My Questions:

1- Was that concidered legal service?

2- How do I request a Change of Venue to NC (where the child's teachers and doctors have been for the last year)?

3- What chance do I have of getting this Change of Venue?

4- Can I do this on my own or should I hire a lawyer in MA to handle it for me?

Thank you for any help you can give us,
Worried Mom

[socrateaser]

>1- Was that concidered legal service?

It's irrelevant. You have ACTUAL notice of the hearing and that is all that due process requires.

>2- How do I request a Change of Venue to NC (where the child's
>teachers and doctors have been for the last year)?

A change of venue refers to a different trial court in the SAME jurisdiction. What you are seeking is for MA to relinquish jurisdiction in favor of NC, on grounds that NC has been the home State of the child for more than six months.

>
>3- What chance do I have of getting this Change of Venue?

I don't read tea leaves -- it depends on whether the court finds your actions in bad faith and not in the child's best interests or whether it finds the father has failed to maintain a parent-child relationship (which, based on your facts, appears to be the case, if you can prove it in court).

Father may allege that you disappeared with the child and it has required all of this time for him to locate you. If he proves this, then you will have big problems. Otherwise, I'd say the odds are in your favor, as you have already well established the new state as the child's residence.

>
>4- Can I do this on my own or should I hire a lawyer in MA to
>handle it for me?

Depends on your competency in matters of law. Sounds pretty serious to me, so I would lean towards hiring counsel.