Welcome to Ask an Attorney. Today’s question comes from Eugene. The writer wants to know if she can move out of state to flee a domestic abuse situation.

My name is Steven Leskin.  I’m a divorce and family law attorney in Portland Oregon. You can find me at www.leskinlaw.com. We post new content every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at about 10 o’clock. If you like what you see here, please like, subscribe, or comment below. Your engagement is valued.

So the question is: will a judge allow a domestic abuse a victim of domestic abuse to take a child out of state?

It’s hard to say. The first option, maybe to consider filing a FAPA, a Family Abuse Protection Act, and get the abusive husband out of the house. If you’re going to court and want to move, it’s best to do it under the auspices of the Court. If you move and take a child with you before a court order, the Court may look unfavorably on that and order you back to Oregon and then you end up with a less restrictive parenting plan or a parenting plan without a supervisor to protect the child. If there’s abuse directed at the child so it’s kind of hard to know what the court is going to do, but my advice would be firstly to get the FAPA, which would, if granted after a hearing, would almost certainly guarantee you full custody and then with that evidence, you’d maybe have a stronger case to argue that there should be a supervised parenting plan, but you’d have to make your argument pretty carefully that you know that you have to support in the state where you’re going you have family maybe a job a support system for the children. So it’s hard to say, but the first step would certainly be to get the FAPA order in place.

Again, my name is Steven Leskin and you can find me at www.leskinlaw.com.

Thanks for watching.