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Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act
The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act ("UCCJEA")
The following Arizona cases are either often-cited or recent decisions in matters relating to UCCJEA issues:
- Willie G. v. ADES, (Ariz.App. Div. 2, July 29, 2005).
Arizona remained the home state under the UCCJEA where the child's family was moving to another state when Arizona filed a dependency action. Mother decided to move with her boyfriend to Kentucky in violation of a court order prohibiting her from removing the two of her three children out-of-state who were involved in dependency actions. The couple was found in Texas on their way to Kentucky when DES arranged for the Texas authorities to pick up the two children. DES also filed a dependency action concerning the third child. The parents argued Arizona lacked jurisdiction over the third child because she was not physically present in Arizona and was not the subject of a pending dependency action at the time she was removed from the state. The Arizona Court of Appeals held, however, that Arizona was the child's home state since she lived there since her birth and no other state qualified as her "home state" under the UCCJEA.
- Welch-Doden v. Roberts (Ariz.App. Div. 1, 2002).
Mother filed for divorce and custody of child. Father filed for divorce in Oklahoma. After conferring with the Oklahoma court, the Superior Court, Maricopa County, No. DR 01-090505, dismissed the action on grounds that Oklahoma was child's home state under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. Mother filed petition for special action. The Court of Appeals held that: (1) in a matter of first impression, Oklahoma was the home state as last state child resided for six consecutive months within six months of mother filing divorce petition; (2) best interests of the child was not a proper factor for consideration in jurisdictional analysis; and (3) first-in-time filing could not defeat jurisdiction of Oklahoma as the “home state.”
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