The Parentage Act (2017 draft below)
If you are a recent arrival in this state, or if you never established jurisdiction properly, or if your partner has attempted to establish jurisdiction improperly and never notified you, or any combination of these factors (including being state residents but never having been married)-- then you will likely need to file a Parentage action to establish jurisdiction for your case involving your children.
http://www.uniformlaws.org/shared/docs/parentage/2016AM_AmendedParentage_Draft.pdf
and the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act work together to help ensure parents don't run off with the kids...it used to be that parents could get away with this, but these days, it's harder to do.
http://www.uniformlaws.org/ActSummary.aspx?title=Child%20Custody%20Jurisdiction%20and%20Enforcement%20Act
If you are just arriving in California, or have just moved from California to another state, the same law will apply to the case, in tandem with the state law (of whichever state you went to...)
Attorney has had recently, four Parentage Act cases, with 3 of them being from other states, and one still here but the parent with custody moved to another state. These cases can be more difficult to do because sometimes attorney is faced with facts from another state making decisions that don't seem too well grounded.
Also, attorney is seeing cases where multiple cases are filed in different states by family members who don't have custody, and then this makes it more expensive (even if they really have no grounds...)
Also if the parent that has custody of the child or children keeps moving around and doesn't update the District Attorney re the whereabouts of the other parent, and the DA doesn't adequately notify the noncustodial parent, we can see a big problem with support falling behind.
Attorney has successfully worked on two cases recently where the other parent wisked the kid away to another state and in another case, to another county. Fast action must be taken upon realization that you have NO marriage/NO court order--you need to file ASAP. In some cases a domestic order is proper if there has been violence--waiting too long will hinder your rights.
If you need help in Butte County, you can also contact the Child Abduction Unit in Oroville, CA.
And If you have such a case and need help, contact attorney C. Chan today! 530.359.8810
