I live in Arizona, but child lives in another state. Nothing has ever been filed in Court. Can I file in Arizona to get custody?
It depends. For Arizona to have JurisdictionThe authority of a Court to hear and decide a certain issue. Each court’s ability to hear cases are defined either by a Constitutional provision, or, more commonly, by an Act of Congress (for Federal courts) or the state legislature (for state courts).Read more about Jurisdiction over custody, it has to be the home state of the child. That means Arizona has to be the state where the child most recently resided for six consecutive months. If Arizona is not that state, then Arizona cannot make a custody order, and you will need to file in the state where your child has most recently resided for six consecutive months.