Opinion ID: 1991908
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Kidnapping Act

Text: The question therefore becomes whether the dissolution court's exercise of jurisdiction was in conformity with the requirements of the kidnapping act. That act is aimed at combating the problem of parental child snatching and forum shopping in interstate child custody disputes. At the time it was enacted, sponsors of the act estimated that between 25,000 and 100,000 children were kidnapped by parents who had lost a custody battle in one state and moved to another state in order to relitigate the issue. Thompson v. Thompson, 484 U.S. 174, 108 S.Ct. 513, 98 L.Ed.2d 512 (1988). The act was intended to provide uniformity that the general uniform child custody act had failed to produce, as many states had modified it. Meade v. Meade, 812 F.2d 1473 (4th Cir.1987). The kidnapping act imposes upon the states a duty to enforce a child custody determination entered by the court of a sister state if that determination is consistent with the terms of the act. Thompson, supra . For a state court's custody decree to be consistent with the kidnapping act, the state must have jurisdiction under its own local law and must meet one of five conditions set out in § 1738A(c)(2). If a state has exercised jurisdiction consistent with the kidnapping act, no other state may exercise concurrent jurisdiction, even if it would have been empowered to take jurisdiction in the first instance. Thompson, supra . As the dissolution court exercised jurisdiction in accordance with the Nebraska child custody act, the first requirement of the kidnapping act is satisfied, and we need only determine whether the exercise of jurisdiction meets one of the other aforementioned five conditions. The one most applicable is subparagraph (E) of § 1738A(c)(2), which provides that a court has continuing jurisdiction pursuant to subsection (d), which reads: The jurisdiction of a court of a State which has made a child custody determination consistently with the provisions of this section continues as long as the requirement of subsection (c)(1) of this section [that the state have jurisdiction under its own law] continues to be met and such State remains the residence of the child or of any contestant. All three of the requirements of § 1738A(d) are satisfied in the present case. First, the dissolution court had previously, on June 8, 1989, made a child custody determination in the form of its dissolution decree. Second, under the provisions of the Nebraska child custody act, Nebraska continued to have subject matter jurisdiction over the case. Range, supra ; In re Interest of L.W., 241 Neb. 84, 486 N.W.2d 486 (1992); State ex rel. Grape v. Zach, 247 Neb. 29, 524 N.W.2d 788 (1994). Third, Nebraska remained the residence of the father, one of the contestants. It is thus clear that the dissolution court's exercise of jurisdiction was fully consistent with the provisions of the kidnapping act.