Opinion ID: 2552701
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Family Court's Subject-Matter Jurisdiction

Text: The Family Court is a legislatively created court of limited jurisdiction, and its powers are thus restricted to those that are conferred upon it by the General Assembly. State v. Greenberg, 951 A.2d 481, 490 (R.I.2008); Chambers v. Ormiston, 935 A.2d 956, 958 (R.I.2007). Specifically, the Family Court's subject-matter jurisdiction must expressly be contained in the Family Court Act, G.L.1956 § 8-10-3. [4] Paolino, 420 A.2d at 833. The Family Court's jurisdiction may not be extended by implication, nor may the question of subject-matter jurisdiction be waived by the parties. Pine v. Clark, 636 A.2d 1319, 1321 (R.I.1994); Britt v. Britt, 119 R.I. 791, 794-95, 383 A.2d 592, 594 (1978). The Family Court's subject-matter jurisdiction over child custody and support decisions is governed by the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act, G.L.1956 chapter 14.1 of title 15 (UCCJEA), and the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, G.L.1956 chapter 23.1 of title 15 (UIFSA), respectively. Each act bestows jurisdiction upon the tribunals of this state through a concept called exclusive, continuing jurisdiction, which we shall detail in our analysis of each act. Before doing so, however, we note with approval, a comment from the Model UIFSA that sums up the intersection and divergence of these uniform acts with respect to the jurisdiction of the Family Court: [The] UIFSA and UCCJEA seek a world in which there is but one order at a time for child support and custody and visitation. Both [acts] have similar restrictions on the ability of a tribunal to modify the existing order. The major difference between the two acts is that the basic jurisdictional nexus of each is founded on different considerations. UIFSA has its focus on the personal jurisdiction necessary to bind the obligor to payment of a child-support order. UCCJEA places its focus on the factual circumstances of the child, primarily the `home [s]tate' of the child   . Model UIFSA Comment to Art. 6, § 611 (2008). With this in mind, we turn to each act to determine whether the Family Court erred when it dismissed Moss's motions.