Tennessee parents who are divorcing may wonder what will happen to their child custody agreement if one parent moves out of state. In general, a federal law ensures that a home state’s custody ruling can be enforced in every other state. The home state is wherever the child lived for six consecutive months with at least one parent. For babies under six months old, it is wherever the child lived with a parent after birth.
If no other state has jurisdiction and it is in the best interests of the child that a certain state be named the home state, then that state can assume jurisdiction. An example may be if the child has significant ties in the state.
Archive note. This post was originally published on the Nashville Family Law Blog at kwellerlaw.com. Only the opening of the article survives in the Internet Archive, so the text above is the portion that could be recovered verbatim. The remainder of the original article is not available. To discuss how this topic applies to your own situation, call (615) 256-2602.