Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The Fun (NOT) Of Interstate Custody

I am working on UCCJA (Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act) now but it is nowhere near as ugly as the case (I just have a judge who entered an Order giving limited relief to my opponent and ordered briefing on the jurisdictional issues) noted by The Florida Divorce Law Blog:

Wife also obtains an injunction for protection against domestic violence, or order of protection, against Husband - in Rhode Island.

Not buying it, the North Carolina Court orders Wife to return with the children to live in North Carolina.

Unhappy with the North Carolina ruling, Wife tries to do an end run around the North Carolina courts and seeks emergency jurisdiction in Rhode Island.

Which Rhode Island’s family courts exercise … repeatedly.

Having apparently exhausted his remedies in North Carolina, Husband appeals in Rhode Island.

And Husband wins …

A mere seven years later.

The reasons Husband wins are because:

  1. North Carolina validly exercised jurisdiction in the first place and
  2. Emergency jurisdiction is inherently temporary in nature

    2 comments:

    Unknown said...

    Sam can I see a draft of your UCCJA?

    Sam Hasler said...

    I am not sure what you meant by my "draft". Indiana codified the UCCJA at http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title31/ar21/