Jurisdiction and Your Child
The UCCJEA (Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act) establishes that Texas courts have jurisdiction over custody cases if the child lived in Texas with a parent or personal acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months before the custody case was filed in Texas.
It is important to note that the UCCJEA only applies to visitation, physical, and legal custody. The UCCJEA is used in every state except Massachusetts.
What is UCCJEA?
The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act was drafted to reconcile differences between state and Federal Law. The UCCJEA is a uniform state law that specifies which court should decide a custody case, not how a court will decide custody cases.
There are several factors that the UCCJEA uses to establish jurisdiction of the case.
- Home State: where the child lived with a parent or person acting as a parent for at least six (6) months immediately before the custody action was filed.
- Significant Connection: a state has a significant connection if the child and at least one parent have a significant connection with the state.
- Appropriate Forum: this type of jurisdiction exists when the home state and significant connection have declined to exercise jurisdiction on the grounds that a court of another state is the more appropriate forum to determine the custody issues.
- No Other State: this exists when no court of any other state would have a home state, significant connection or appropriate forum jurisdiction.
- Emergency: a court may exercise emergency jurisdiction if the child has been abandoned or it is necessary to protect the child.
The UCCJEA requires the courts to communicate with each other to determine the best court for the jurisdiction. An example of this may be you are from South Dakota, moved to Texas, and need to modify the current custody order. The Texas court must communicate with the South Dakota court to determine whether the Texas court is the correct forum to hear the custody matter.
The Denis Law Group has the experience to navigate the confusing laws that determine the jurisdiction of custody cases.