Opinion ID: 2151713
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Did the Iowa District Court Have Subject Matter Jurisdiction to Make a Custody Determination?

Text: Because the New York Supreme Court did not have subject matter jurisdiction, we are not required by Iowa law to give its decree full faith and credit. Thus, what we have here is in essence a request by Karna to make an initial custody determination. The question is whether the Iowa district court has jurisdiction to make such a determination. See O'Neal, 329 N.W.2d at 669 (following refusal to recognize and enforce Arizona custody decree pursuant to Iowa Code section 598A.13, this court proceeded to determine whether the Iowa district court had subject matter jurisdiction to make custody determination). Whether the Iowa district court has jurisdiction to make an initial custody determination depends on whether any of the provisions of Iowa Code section 598A.3 are satisfied. For reasons that follow, we find the Iowa district court does have subject matter jurisdiction to make an initial custody determination based on the home state provision found in Iowa Code section 598A.3, which provides: 1. A court of this state which is competent to decide child custody matters has jurisdiction to make a child-custody determination by initial or modification decree if: a. This state is the home state of the child at the time of commencement of the proceeding, or had been the child's home state within six months before commencement of the proceeding and the child is absent from this state because of the removal or retention by a person claiming custody or for other reasons, and a parent or person acting as parent continues to live in this state. Iowa Code § 598A.3. The Iowa Code defines home state to mean the state in which the child, immediately preceding the time involved, lived with the child's parents, a parent, or a person acting as parent, for at least six consecutive months.... Periods of temporary absence of any of the named persons are counted as part of the six-month or other period. Iowa Code § 598A.2(5). Isaiah lived in Iowa from June 16, 1996, through the filing of the application to modify on January 14, 1998, interrupted only by a single, seventy-seven-day visit with Maurice in the summer of 1997. We find this visit fits within the temporary absence exception to the six-consecutive-month requirement in section 598A.2(5). Furthermore, Karna has continued to live in this state throughout these proceedings. We therefore find that the Iowa district court had subject matter jurisdiction to make a custody determination because, at the time Karna filed the application to modify on January 14, 1998, Iowa was Isaiah's home state and because Karna has continued to live in Iowa. As mentioned, what we now have is an initial custody determination because we are not affording full faith and credit to the New York custody order. The district court proceeded on the basis it was modifying the New York custody order. It therefore considered whether there had been a substantial change in circumstances as well as the best interests of the child. See In re Marriage of Hunnell, 398 N.W.2d 877, 878 (Iowa 1987). In making an initial custody determination, however, the district court employs only a best-interests-of-the-child standard. See In re Marriage of Will, 489 N.W.2d 394, 397 (Iowa 1992). Therefore, the district court here employed a stricter standard than was necessary, so there was no prejudice to Maurice. After very detailed findings, the court found that Isaiah's best interests required that Karna be the primary caretaker of the child. In his appeal, Maurice does not challenge the standard the district court employed or the merits of the court's best-interests determination. His only complaint is that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to make a custody determination. For these reasons and because the district court had subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Iowa Code section 598A.3 to make a custody determination, we will not determine custody anew. The district court's decision on that issue stands.