Opinion ID: 789256
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: A Framework for INA Legal Custody: Reconciling Fierro and Matter of M—

Text: 41 This leaves a surfeit of standards, as both the Fierro approach (looking to state law to define legal custody) and the Matter of M — test (looking for a decree of custody or, failing that, for actual uncontested custody) are helpful. I conclude, however, that these two standards can be reconciled in a straightforward way. 5 42 The BIA position in Matter of M — is that a judicial determination or judicial or statutory grant of custody creates legal custody. These are all matters of state law, as no federal courts or statutes grant child custody. Thus, the first stage of the Matter of M — determination is a matter of state law, consistent with Fierro. If state law provides no answer as to child custody, then federal courts cannot follow Fierro to determine who has legal custody. 6 Rather than simply inventing state law, however, the courts can fall back on the second part of the Matter of M — test: if state law does not fix legal custody, then the federal standard of actual uncontested custody applies. 43 Thus, if, for example, a state court has entered a valid decree granting custody of a child to the child's father, then the father has legal custody of the child. This result follows naturally from both Fierro and Matter of M — (as it is a judicial determination or judicial ... grant of custody). Similarly, if (again, for example) there has been no decree, but a state statute provides that in the absence of a decree, a child of divorced parents is in the legal custody of whichever parent he resides with, then courts should follow the state law under both Fierro and Matter of M — (statutory grant of custody). And, if state law is silent about legal custody, Fierro is of no help, and we must rely on the Matter of M — fallback of actual uncontested custody. 7 44 In this case, then, I look first at the New York law defining legal custody. Only because that law does not determine who had legal custody of Odiri Bagot do I turn to the Matter of M — standard of actual uncontested custody.