Moving child from KY to TN

[jmorri27]

My daughter has been living with a man for about 8 years now. They have never been married, but have a son who is 6 years old. He was born in Tennessee, but they moved to Kentucky when he was about 2 years old. This past week, my daughter has fled from Kentucky to our home in Tennessee and wants to file for custody here before the father files in Kentucky. The court told her that she has to be a resident in this state for 6 months before she can file. The father is harassing her and calling her every day pleading with her to come back, but she refuses to return as she has police records of when in November of 2006, she tried to leave him by going to her friends house (still in Kentucky at that time), and he arrived at her friends residence with a gun and was firing shots in the air and threatening to break in. My question is: Does she have to wait for the 6 months and hope that the father doesn't file for custody there? Or is there some kind of provision that allows for if the mother is in fear, even though the father has never shown any malice toward the child? Or, does she need to return to Kentucky and file for custody there? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If there is an emergency situation the court will often let her proceed and file there where she is.