Opinion ID: 1257752
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The UCCJA as Pertinent to Lyons

Text: In this case, the mother deserted the father while he was away from the marital abode. Without notice, she took the child to England and immediately obtained a wardship order from the foreign court. The father filed for divorce and custody in Virginia. The wife made a general appearance in Virginia, filing a cross-bill and asking for an award of custody. Thereafter, the custody issue was litigated in England. After the court below refused to exercise jurisdiction, the English court made a merits custody determination upon a full hearing attended by the father as well as the mother. The father argues that the UCCJA required the Virginia trial court initially to exercise jurisdiction in the custody matter. The father says the basic question presented is whether the courts of this State may deny a resident parent access to court when his child has been taken to a foreign state. The father asks us to uphold an important purpose of the UCCJA and to inhibit the practice of removing a local child across state lines to obtain a foreign custody decree favorable to the deserting parent. Under the UCCJA, physical presence of the child as a jurisdictional basis in all but the most extreme cases has been eliminated. Cf. Falco v. Grills, 209 Va. 115, 161 S.E.2d 713 (1968) (custody jurisdiction attached when child was present in Virginia even though both parents were absent). Under the UCCJA, [p]hysical presence of the child, while desirable, is not a prerequisite for jurisdiction to determine his custody. Code § 20-126(C). Under the UCCJA, custody ordinarily is to be determined where the child has the closest contacts. See Code § 20-126. Under the UCCJA, as pertinent here, a court of this State which is competent to decide child custody matters has jurisdiction to make an initial custody decree if: Virginia has been the child's home state within six months before commencement of the proceeding and the child is absent from this State because of his removal by a person claiming custody and a parent continues to live in this State. Code § 20-126(A)(1)(ii). Again, [h]ome state is defined as the state where the child immediately preceding the time involved lived with his parents ... for at least six consecutive months.... Code § 20-125(5). The evidence is undisputed that Virginia was the child's home state at the time the father instituted the divorce suit and petitioned for custody on April 30, 1982. The child was born and raised in Virginia and, except for visits with his maternal grandparents in England, had lived exclusively in this State. The child was absent from Virginia due to removal by the mother, and the father continued to live here. Thus, by the prompt filing of his custody petition, the father preserved Virginia's home state jurisdiction. But the trial court did not decide that it was without subject-matter jurisdiction. The chancellor ruled that it had jurisdiction over the parties because the father was a resident of Fairfax County and the mother had submitted to the jurisdiction of the circuit court. The trial court concluded nonetheless that it must grant comity to the English order of July 6 and thus refused the father's request to enter an order compelling the mother to return the child to Virginia. The court felt bound by Oehl v. Oehl, supra . The chancellor applied a three-fold inquiry set forth in Oehl, deferred to the English court, and said that it could, in the future, review and interpret the decision of the English Court of Appeal regarding access to the child. However, Oehl was a pre-UCCJA case, as we have said. The mother concedes that the Oehl inquiry for discretionary comity of foreign decrees has been superceded by the UCCJA requirements for statutory comity of custody decrees of another country. Nevertheless, the mother contends the trial court properly decided not to exercise jurisdiction in the matter. She argues that Code § 20-146 requires Virginia courts to grant comity to custody decrees of foreign nations. That statute provides, in part, that the provisions of the UCCJA relating to the recognition and enforcement of custody decrees of other states apply to custody decrees ... rendered by appropriate authorities of other nations if reasonable notice and opportunity to be heard were given to all affected persons. The mother points out that the father was served with the English Originating Summons on May 20 and was granted a full hearing in England within one month, at which he put on evidence in support of his position. She notes he appeared subsequently, by counsel, to argue before the Court of Appeal. Thus, she says, the father had notice and the opportunity to be heard, requiring the chancellor to grant comity to the English decree. Additionally, she argues the trial court was required to refuse to exercise jurisdiction because of the mandate of Code § 20-129(A). That section provides, in part, that: A court of this State shall not exercise its jurisdiction under this chapter if at the time of filing the petition a proceeding concerning the custody of the child was pending in a court of another state exercising jurisdiction substantially in conformity with this chapter. The mother argues that a custody dispute was pending in England on April 14, sixteen days before the father filed the divorce suit in the trial court on April 30. Finally, the mother contends that the issue on appeal is moot because there was a full hearing attended by both parties and the High Court decided the merits of the custody question in December of 1982. We reject the mother's contentions. Considering her arguments in reverse order, we conclude initially that the question presented has not been rendered moot. The focus of our inquiry is on the trial court's action in refusing to exercise jurisdiction. This occurred on September 23, 1982, when the order was entered denying the father's motion on the basis of a hearing on August 30. Had the trial court taken jurisdiction at that time, it is likely the English court may have deferred to the Virginia court and may not have proceeded to adjudicate the custody question in December, the action which generates the mootness argument. The question whether the trial court should have exercised jurisdiction at the outset is an actual, justiciable controversy which by no means has been rendered academic by subsequent proceedings in England. Next, we hold that Code § 20-129(A) did not prohibit the trial court from exercising its jurisdiction. It is true, as the mother argues, that when the father's custody petition was filed on April 30 as a part of the divorce suit, there technically was, in the language of the statute, a proceeding concerning the custody of the child ... pending in England and England was exercising jurisdiction substantially in conformity with the UCCJA. Wardship had been granted ex parte and the originating summons issued but not served. Nevertheless, that circumstance alone does not mandate a wooden application of § 20-129(A) when foreign jurisdiction has been obtained by one parent spiriting the child away from its domicile. Given the facts of this case, a contrary view would encourage a race to the courthouse, the prize of custody being awarded to the swifter and more devious parent. We will not endorse such conduct in view of at least two important purposes of the UCCJA applicable here: to deter unilateral removal of children to obtain foreign custody awards, and to assure that litigation over the child's custody occurs in the forum where the child and his family have the closest connection. As the father points out, the child had no conceivable connection with England on April 30 except for his forced physical presence there. The child was an American citizen, had lived all his life in Virginia, was attending school in Virginia, and had formed all his personal relationships in the Commonwealth. His present and future custody should be decided in Virginia. Finally, all that we just have said applies with equal force to answer the mother's contention, based on § 20-146, that comity properly was accorded the Court of Appeal's July 6 order because the father received notice and participated in the English proceedings. Additionally, the fact that the father elected to appear and present evidence in the proceedings abroad does not lessen the obligation of the home state to exercise its jurisdiction. The father was forced to litigate in England; the alternative was to disregard the foreign proceedings, thereby increasing the risk of an unfavorable ruling abroad. Consequently, we will reverse the order of September 23, 1982 and remand the proceeding. Upon remand, the trial court shall exercise its jurisdiction and enter such orders as may be appropriate to enable it to adjudicate the custody dispute. These two cases will be Reversed and remanded.