Law Lessons from MICHAEL CAMPBELL V. CLAUDIA CAMPBELL, App. Div., A-0393-08T4, August 11, 2009:

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In this case, the New Jersey court had subject matter jurisdiction over the custody dispute at that time of the divorce pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA), N.J.S.A. 2A:34-28 to -52. That statute was later repealed and replaced by the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, (UCCJEA), N.J.S.A. 2A:34-53 to -95, on December 13, 2004. The UCCJEA was promulgated to refine and improve upon the UCCJA and it retains the central purposes of the prior act. Griffith v. Tressel, 394 N.J. Super. 128, 138 (App. Div. 2007).

Because the UCCJA was in effect at the time of the initial custody determination, it controls whether this State had jurisdiction. N.J.S.A. 2A:34-94.

The UCCJA stated that the Superior Court of New Jersey had jurisdiction to make an initial custody determination if New Jersey was the child’s “home state” at the time of the commencement of the proceeding. N.J.S.A. 2A:24-31. The statute defined “home state” as “the state in which the child immediately preceding the time involved lived with his parents . . . for a least 6 consecutive months . . . .” N.J.S.A. 2A:34-30.

A motion requesting physical custody of the children after the UCCJA was repealed is governed by the UCCJEA, N.J.S.A. 2A:34-94.

If New Jersey was the children’s home state at the time of the initial custody determination, the court must consider whether, during the time between the initial order and the filing of the motion for modification, circumstances have changed so as to divest this State of that jurisdiction. Griffith v. Tressel, 394 N.J. Super. 128, 140 (App. Div. 2007).

The UCCJEA states that once the “home state” has made a child custody determination consistent with N.J.S.A. 2A:34-65, which determines initial child custody jurisdiction based on similar criteria found in the UCCJA, ^[1] it retains “exclusive, continuing jurisdiction” over the determination until:

(1) a court of this State determines that neither the child, the child and one parent, nor the child and a person acting as a parent have a significant connection with this State and that substantial evidence is no longer available in this State concerning the child’s care, protection, training, and personal relationships; or
(2) a court of this State or a court of another state determines that neither the child, nor a parent, nor any person acting as a parent presently resides in this State.

[N.J.S.A. 2A:34-66a.]

In Sensient Colors v. Allstate Ins. Co., 193 N.J. 373, 386 (2008), our Supreme Court stated that “New Jersey has long adhered to the ‘general rule that the court which first acquires jurisdiction has precedence in the absence of special equities.’” (quoting Yancoskie v. Del. River Port Auth., 78 N.J. 321, 324 (1978)).

NOTE: My legal services include divorce, child support, child custody and visitation, alimony, equitable distribution, and marital agreements.

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1. The UCCJEA requires that the state acquiring jurisdiction must have been the child’s “home state” within six months of commencement of the action. N.J.S.A. 2A:34-65. “Home state” is defined as “the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the commencement of a child custody proceeding.” N.J.S.A. 2A:34-54. [↩]