Best for the ChildrenWhere kids come firstStart here
How to Change Jurisdiction for Child Custody
Living with the Order

How to Change Jurisdiction for Child Custody

Learn how a custody case can move to your new state, including the two routes to end the original court's control and the relocation rules to follow first.

Best for the Children Editorial·9 min read·July 31, 2025·Updated October 17, 2026

You have a custody order from one state, and now a job, a family move, or a fresh start is pulling you to another. You want any future custody fights handled near your new home, not in a courtroom you have left behind. You can't change jurisdiction just by moving or filing a request. Under the law nearly every state follows, the court that issued your order keeps the case until one of two things happens. Either it finds that you, the child, and the other parent no longer have enough connection to that state, or it agrees to hand the case off as an "inconvenient forum." This guide explains both routes, the relocation rules you must follow first, and why enforcement works differently from modification.

One law in almost every state

Interstate custody cases are governed by the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws drafted it in 1997. It replaced an older uniform act, the UCCJA, and it was designed to end conflicts with federal law and to discourage "forum shopping," where a parent moves to find a friendlier court.

Adoption is close to universal. Forty-nine states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have adopted the UCCJEA. Massachusetts is the exception and still applies its own statute, M.G.L. c. 209B. The Massachusetts Senate passed a UCCJEA bill in 2025, but the House had not acted on it by the end of that year. If your case touches Massachusetts, check the legislature's site for its current status.

A federal law sits on top of the state acts. The Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1738A, requires every state to enforce another state's custody determination "according to its terms," as long as that order was made consistently with the federal statute. It also limits modification. A second state may change another state's order only if it has jurisdiction itself and the original state "no longer has" jurisdiction or has declined to use it.

The rest of this article uses Florida's version of the UCCJEA as the main example, with notes on Georgia and Kansas. Most states use nearly identical wording, but section numbers differ.

Where jurisdiction starts: the child's home state

The first custody case usually belongs to the child's "home state." Florida defines it as "the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least 6 consecutive months immediately before the commencement of a child custody proceeding." For a baby younger than six months, the home state is wherever the child has lived since birth. Temporary absences, such as a summer at a grandparent's house, count toward the six months.

The test is about where the child lived with a parent or someone acting as a parent. It is not about where the parents lived. Georgia uses the same six-consecutive-month standard, and it also counts temporary absences.

Why the first state keeps your case after you move

Once a state issues a custody order, its court has what the UCCJEA calls exclusive, continuing jurisdiction. That means only that court can modify the order. A move by the custodial parent does not end this jurisdiction. Kansas's version of the statute, which follows the uniform text, makes clear that the issuing state keeps the case while the other parent and the child's ties remain there.

Here is how that works in practice. Say your order came from Florida, you moved to Georgia with your child, and your child's other parent still lives in Florida. Georgia generally cannot modify the Florida order, however long you have lived there. Florida keeps control until a court finds that one of the statutory conditions for ending its jurisdiction has been met, or until Florida declines to hear the case.

The two ways the original state's control ends

Under Florida's statute, § 61.515, exclusive, continuing jurisdiction ends in one of two ways.

1. Nobody lives there anymore. A court of the issuing state or of another state determines that the child, the child's parents, and any person acting as a parent "do not presently reside in this state." If both parents and the child have moved away, this is the simplest trigger.

2. The connection has faded. The issuing court determines that the child, the parents, and any person acting as a parent "do not have a significant connection with this state." It must also find that substantial evidence about the child's care, protection, training, and personal relationships is no longer available there. Only the issuing court can make this finding.

Georgia's version, O.C.G.A. § 19-9-62, uses the same two-part test.

Even after the first state's jurisdiction ends, the new state does not automatically take over. A court that lacks continuing jurisdiction may modify the order only if it would have jurisdiction to make an initial custody determination. In most cases, that means the new state must have become the child's home state.

The third route: the original court steps aside

The original court can also hand off a case it still has jurisdiction over. It does this by declining jurisdiction because it is an inconvenient forum and a court in another state is better placed to decide. This is the route a parent usually pursues when the other parent still lives in the original state.

Florida's statute, § 61.520(2), tells the judge to weigh eight factors:

  • whether domestic violence has occurred and is likely to continue, and which state can best protect the parties and the child
  • how long the child has lived outside the state
  • the distance between the court in Florida and the court in the other state
  • the parties' relative financial circumstances
  • any agreement between the parties about which state should hear the case
  • the nature and location of the evidence, including the child's testimony
  • each court's ability to decide the issue quickly, and the procedures it would use
  • each court's familiarity with the facts and issues

An agreement between parents helps, but it is only one factor. The court still decides. Where the evidence is matters a great deal. If your child's school, doctors, and therapists are now in the new state, that is the kind of fact this list asks the judge to consider.

Before any of that: following your state's relocation rules

Whether you can move at all depends on your current order and your state's relocation law. Many states require notice, the other parent's consent, or a judge's approval. The rules differ from state to state, so read your own state's statute.

Florida's rule, § 61.13001, shows how strict these laws can be:

  • What counts as relocation: a change of principal residence of at least 50 miles that lasts at least 60 consecutive days.
  • Agreement or petition: if the other parent does not agree in writing, you must file a sworn petition to relocate.
  • Objection window: the other parent has 20 days after being served to object. If they object, you may not move until the court grants permission.
  • Burden of proof: you must first show, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the move is in the child's best interest. The burden then shifts to the objecting parent.
  • Consequences of skipping the process: a parent who moves without following these steps can be held in contempt, ordered to return the child, and ordered to pay attorney's fees.

Getting permission to move does not transfer jurisdiction. A Florida court can approve your move to Georgia and still keep the case.

Enforcing an order doesn't require a transfer

Parents often mix up enforcing an order with changing which court controls it. They are separate processes.

If you only need the other parent to follow the existing order, you can ask your new state to enforce it without changing jurisdiction. Florida's statute, § 61.536, says its courts "shall accord full faith and credit to an order issued by another state," unless that order has been vacated, stayed, or modified by a court with authority to do so. The federal PKPA imposes the same duty on every state.

The UCCJEA also has a separate procedure for registering an out-of-state custody order in your new state. Registration helps you enforce the order there. It does not move the case to the new state's courts.

When a child is in danger

There is one narrow exception to all of this. A state that otherwise has no jurisdiction may issue a temporary emergency order if a child is present there and needs immediate protection. If another state already has a custody order, the emergency court must give the parties time to take the matter back to that state. An emergency order is a stopgap, not a way to transfer the case.

Putting it together: the realistic path

  1. Read your current order and your state's relocation statute before you move. Get written consent from the other parent or file the required petition.
  2. Confirm which state has exclusive, continuing jurisdiction. It is almost always the state that issued the original order.
  3. Work out which route applies. If no party still lives in the original state, any court can make that finding. If the other parent still lives there, you will need the original court either to find that the significant connection is gone or to decline jurisdiction as an inconvenient forum.
  4. Make sure the new state qualifies. It usually needs to be the child's home state, which means six consecutive months of living there with a parent, before it can modify the order.
  5. Bring evidence that fits the statutory factors. That includes how long the child has lived in the new state, where the school and medical records are, the distance between the courts, any agreement between you and the other parent, and any history of domestic violence.
  6. Keep enforcement separate. If you only need the existing order followed, you can ask for enforcement without changing jurisdiction.

These cases depend heavily on each state's exact statute and on the facts of your family. A family law attorney licensed in the state that currently holds your case can tell you which route is open to you.

Sources (12)
Keep reading

More guides like this