Also known as: Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act · UCCJEA
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A uniform statute that establishes standards for determining which state court may exercise jurisdiction over child-custody matters and supplies procedures for recognizing and enforcing custody determinations issued by courts of other states.
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Uma Underwood has lived for ten years in County D yet files an adoption petition for Jayden in County C court, citing her daily work directing a nonprofit headquartered there. The court must decide whether her employment connection satisfies the county residency requirement for filing. Because adoption proceedings lie outside the Act's coverage, the court applies the state's separate statutory rules rather than any uniform custody jurisdiction framework.
Odell relocates with Uriah from State A to State C and files a modification petition two years later. Paula continues periodic work-related stops in State A. The State C court must determine whether State A retains exclusive continuing jurisdiction under the Act's significant-connection test before it may modify the original order.
A court must recognize and enforce a child-custody determination made by another state if the issuing court exercised jurisdiction in substantial conformity with the Act or the determination meets the Act's jurisdictional standards and has not been modified.
The enforcing court may issue a temporary order supplying specific dates and a clear end date so long as the order does not alter the substantive amount of visitation granted by the issuing court.
…Indian”).[^maj-29] The majority’s interpretation of ICWA is also inconsistent with the views of 18 States that have adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). The UCCJEA is a uniform act designed to avoid jurisdictional conflicts between States in child custody proceedings. See Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act §101…
…alleging, among other things, that the Alabama trial court lacked jurisdiction to make a child
The petition and order must be served by a method authorized by state law on the respondent and on any person who has physical custody of the child.
Exclusive continuing jurisdiction ends when the court determines that neither the child nor the child and one parent have a significant connection with the state and substantial evidence is no longer available there, or when a court determines that the child, parents, and any person acting as a parent no longer reside in the state.
The Act specifically excludes adoption from its coverage, leaving states to address jurisdiction in adoption cases through separate statutes or by adding adoption to proceedings covered under the Act.