Modification Of a Foreign Child-Custody Order Under the UCCJEA When Multiple States Are Involved
What if a joint custody order is entered in a state where the parents and child once lived, but then the child and parents all move — with the child living in-between mother’s home in State A and father’s home in State B? Which state would have jurisdiction to modify the foreign custody order? Would jurisdiction depend on which state had registered the order first?
The Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act sets out when a North Carolina court can modify a foreign child custody or child support order. See G.S. § 50A-203. Section 50A-203 specifies that this can only happen if a court of this state would have jurisdiction to make an initial child-custody determination, and a court of the other state determines it no longer has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction under G.S. 50A-202 (the child and no parent lives in that state or have a significant connection to that state) or that another state would be a more convenient forum under G.S. 50A-207, or a North Carolina court or a court of the other state determines that the child, the child’s parents and no person acting as a parent currently reside in the other state.