Jurisdiction over child custody is determined by the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA).  These jurisdictional rules are basically the same throughout the country.  This subject is too technical and has too many exceptions to fully explain in this format, but as a general rule, if there is no custody order presently entered in any Court anywhere, and if your children have lived in North Carolina for the previous six months, then North Carolina will likely have jurisdiction over the custody of your children.   If a custody order already exists from another state, then I will need to know the circumstances of where the children and both parents live in order to know whether North Carolina has the jurisdiction to modify the out of state order.

There are many nuances to this statute and when parties have competing claims regarding which state can exercise jurisdiction over custody, usually a thorough review of the circumstances reveals that there is a right and wrong answer.  We likely can discuss this as part of your consultation and determine with confidence whether we can proceed here in North Carolina.

Venue is different from jurisdiction.  Venue is which county in North Carolina hears your case.  If your case was initiated in a county by a parent who still lives in that county, then the case is probably going to remain there unless the overwhelming amount of evidence concerning the welfare, care and personal relationships of the children exists in the county where the other parent is located.  If both parents have moved out of the county where the case was initiated, and if there are still issues pending in the case, then a motion to change venue to one of the counties in which the parents now reside would have a strong chance of success.