When Life Moves You Away, the Law Still Has Your Back
Video Transcribed: Good day everybody. This is Dustin Peterson and I am The Oklahoma City Attorney. Several times a month I’ll be bringing to you the answers to the most commonly heard questions and concerns I hear in my consultations, and hopefully, you can use that information to make better decisions in your own situation.
Bear with me, today’s question is kind of a long one, but an important one. “My spouse and I were divorced in Bryan County, Oklahoma. My former spouse moved to Texas and I moved to Oklahoma City where I have custody of our 10-year-old son. My former spouse has a much better job now and I would like more support. Can I modify our decree in Oklahoma County instead of Bryan County?” That’s a very good question. So there are some factors to be applied in a motion for modification, and those are if your former spouse has moved out of the state, that’s one.
If you have the child physically and lawfully present with you in Oklahoma County, that’s two. And as long as you’re not from shopping, as long as your former spouse has been served, proper service of process in Texas and you can demonstrate that you would be under hardship or would have a burden to return to Bryan County, then it’s very likely that you could file in Oklahoma County rather than having to go down to Bryan County because that is quite a drive. There might be some other concerns as well, what we call a forum non conveniens argument that you may have to deal with.
Once again, I am Oklahoma child custody lawyer Dustin Peterson. If you would like to know more about child support modifications in Oklahoma, give me a call at my office at (405) 888-5400 or simply look me up online at oklahomacitydivorceattorney.pro.