Conflicting Child Custody Orders: Which Court Will Decide?

Conflicting child custody orders don't necessarily happen over night. In some cases, they happen years after a divorce is finalized. For instance, if a husband has decided to leave the states with his children and obtains an order in his new residing country, there will be two official orders, the original order issued in Texas when the divorce was finalized and now the new order, obtained where he moved the children to. You're probably thinking now what, which order should be enforced, which Court gets to decide and how does a Judge decide?

What's Next?

A court hearing will need to be scheduled in Texas, where the U.S. judge will have a conference call with the judge in the new residing country. The hearing is expected to resolve the jurisdictional conflict as the two judges will discuss which court has the more appropriate jurisdiction for the case and ultimately, which court is more proper to make a ruling on custody in this case.

The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA)

Custody issues become extremely complex when two different states or, as in this case, one state and another country are involved. There are various laws that may be applied, like The Hague Convention, the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA) and the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). They all have various applications to multiple jurisdiction cases. Under both the UCCJA and UCCJEA, when cases are pending in the U.S. and a foreign country, the U.S. judge cannot proceed without discussing the case with the foreign judge and decide which court will decide the issues. Child custody issues involving two jurisdictions are complicated. Attorneys experienced with the provisions of the UCCJEA can help simplify and ease the process, contact our team today for more help.