Law Lessons from HINTON-LYNCH v. HORTON, App. Div. (A-5859-06T1, Decided September 23, 2008):

Jurisdiction over child custody determinations is governed by the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), N.J.S.A. 2A:34-53 to -95, which was adopted in New Jersey to be effective on December 13, 2004. See L. 2004, c. 147. Prior to that effective date, jurisdiction in such matters was governed by the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA), N.J.S.A. 2A:34-28 to -52. Jurisdiction to modify a foreign custody order was more broadly permitted by the UCCJA than now permitted by the UCCJEA.

N.J.S.A. 2A:34-67, which provides limited authority for a court of this State to modify a foreign custody order, states that:

a court of this State may not modify a child custody determination made by a court of another state unless a court of this State has jurisdiction to make an initial determination under paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection a. of [N.J.S.A. 2A:34-65] and:
a. the court of the other state determines it no longer has exclusive, continuing jurisdiction under [N.J.S.A. 2A:34-66] or that a court of this State would be a more convenient forum under [N.J.S.A. 2A:34-71]; or
b. a court of this State or a court of the other state determines that the child, the child’s parents, and any person acting as a parent do not presently reside in the other state.

Any relinquishment of jurisdiction by the state with exclusive jurisdiction must occur before any other state assumes jurisdiction. Were it otherwise, there would be a danger, upon a party’s request for after-the-fact approval, that the other state could deem it convenient or expedient to approve of its relinquishment of jurisdiction.

The requirements of the UCCJEA must be precisely met before the exercise of jurisdiction by our courts over foreign custody orders to avoid adding confusion to what, in many circumstances, often is a difficult or convoluted set of circumstances. A later decision relinquishing jurisdiction cannot support another state’s unauthorized assumption of jurisdiction.

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