Also known as: proper forums · appropriate forum · suitable forum
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A judicial forum that possesses both jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter and that is the most suitable venue under statutory or doctrinal criteria for resolving the dispute.
Paula Pierce moved with her child from State X to State Y after the parents separated. The State X court declined jurisdiction on the ground that State Y was the more appropriate forum. State Y then exercised jurisdiction because the child and one parent had a significant connection with State Y and substantial evidence about the child's care was available there.
Priya Prasad and her child lived in State A for two years after leaving State B. No other state had jurisdiction under home-state or significant-connection rules. The State A court determined it was the proper forum because exercising jurisdiction served the child's best interest.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Patrick Phan filed a custody petition in State C after courts in States D and E declined to act. Those courts found State C the more appropriate forum under the uniform act. State C therefore proceeded because every other possible court had stepped aside.
Pablo Perez moved to suppress evidence in a state prosecution. The state court concluded that federal constitutional questions should be resolved in federal court. The proper forum for litigating the exclusionary-rule issue was therefore the federal district court.
Pearl Porter sought Supreme Court review of a state-court ruling on press access to court records. The Court held that the state litigation had not yet reached final judgment. The proper forum for resolving the remaining issues remained the state appellate court.
Piper Patel sued a foreign parent corporation in California for events that occurred abroad. The corporation's contacts with California were limited to those of its subsidiaries. The proper forum for the suit was therefore the courts of the corporation's home country.
A court becomes the proper forum when the home state declines jurisdiction on the ground that the new state is more appropriate and the child and at least one parent have a significant connection with the new state plus substantial evidence is available there.
Supporting sources
The UMDA treats a state as the proper forum when no other state meets the jurisdictional prerequisites or has declined on forum-non-conveniens grounds and it is in the child's best interest for the court to assume jurisdiction.
Supporting sources
When all courts that could claim jurisdiction under paragraphs (1) or (2) decline on the ground that the present state is the more appropriate forum, the present state becomes the proper forum to decide custody.
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…property and that the "trustee" mechanically acted as they directed. [^maj-3]: The suggestion is made that Delaware was a more suitable forum, but the plain fact is that none of the beneficiaries or legatees has ever resided in that State. [^maj-4]: See, e. g., McGee v. International Life Ins. Co., 355 U. S. 220; Travelers…