joannesmith
New Member
I will do my best to explain this.
The children and I live in Missouri, their dad / my husband lives in Nebraska. Even though we are officially divorced, I still see us as married till death parts us - of course this information does not matter, but it will explain why I am calling him my 'husband' instead of my 'ex'. The court order for child custody was all done in Nebraska - Douglas County (Omaha) - where we were both living at the time. It reads as follows:
"Petitioner [me] is a fit and proper person, and is awarded custody of the minor children, to-wit:
daughter's full name and birthdate
son's full name and birthdate
subject to reasonable rights of visitiation by Respondent [my husband], consisting of, but not limited to, alternating weekends and alternating holidays. No alcohol is to be consumed during the visits or immediately (24-hour period) prior to the visits. If Respondent appears under the influence of alcohol, Petitioner may terminate the visit."
The problem is that I cannot get ahold of him to have him sign the passport forms. He has pretty much been out of our lives ever since I was pregnant with our last child over 13 years ago. We have not had much contact with him, but I do know where he lives and his basic contact information.
I tried to file the forms without his signature by filing a DS Form 3053 indicating why he is not able to sign (he chooses to stay away) and what I have done to contact him to try and have him sign (called, emailed, texted and also talked to his family). I filed all the paperwork 2 weeks ago and just got a letter from the US Department of State saying I must also "submit a current certified copy of the custody order."
Current US Passport law requires the custody wording to SPECIFICALLY SAY that I have "legal and sole custody" which, based on what I've typed above, is not what my custody order says. I called the passport info line and read what my order says to the woman who answered and she said that would not work.
I have two options:
1) Keep trying to get ahold of him to sign the forms
2) Submit a "Motion to Modify Child Custody"
Obvious problems arise with the first choice.
The second choice however seems even more intimidating to me but is probably the route I'll have to take. Has anyone ever done this? How do I do it? It seems I can just draft one up myself, but do I even have the right reasons to modify the order? And what complications might we have since we are now living in Missouri and he is still in the original state (Nebraska)? Do I file with the Douglas County Nebraska court or here in Missouri?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Joanne
The children and I live in Missouri, their dad / my husband lives in Nebraska. Even though we are officially divorced, I still see us as married till death parts us - of course this information does not matter, but it will explain why I am calling him my 'husband' instead of my 'ex'. The court order for child custody was all done in Nebraska - Douglas County (Omaha) - where we were both living at the time. It reads as follows:
"Petitioner [me] is a fit and proper person, and is awarded custody of the minor children, to-wit:
daughter's full name and birthdate
son's full name and birthdate
subject to reasonable rights of visitiation by Respondent [my husband], consisting of, but not limited to, alternating weekends and alternating holidays. No alcohol is to be consumed during the visits or immediately (24-hour period) prior to the visits. If Respondent appears under the influence of alcohol, Petitioner may terminate the visit."
The problem is that I cannot get ahold of him to have him sign the passport forms. He has pretty much been out of our lives ever since I was pregnant with our last child over 13 years ago. We have not had much contact with him, but I do know where he lives and his basic contact information.
I tried to file the forms without his signature by filing a DS Form 3053 indicating why he is not able to sign (he chooses to stay away) and what I have done to contact him to try and have him sign (called, emailed, texted and also talked to his family). I filed all the paperwork 2 weeks ago and just got a letter from the US Department of State saying I must also "submit a current certified copy of the custody order."
Current US Passport law requires the custody wording to SPECIFICALLY SAY that I have "legal and sole custody" which, based on what I've typed above, is not what my custody order says. I called the passport info line and read what my order says to the woman who answered and she said that would not work.
I have two options:
1) Keep trying to get ahold of him to sign the forms
2) Submit a "Motion to Modify Child Custody"
Obvious problems arise with the first choice.
The second choice however seems even more intimidating to me but is probably the route I'll have to take. Has anyone ever done this? How do I do it? It seems I can just draft one up myself, but do I even have the right reasons to modify the order? And what complications might we have since we are now living in Missouri and he is still in the original state (Nebraska)? Do I file with the Douglas County Nebraska court or here in Missouri?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Joanne
