Court Opinion

ID: 9567386
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:53:25.506327+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:00:35.312836
License: Public Domain

Judge Greene
concurring in the result.
I agree that the findings of fact in this case “are sufficient to show that North Carolina was a convenient forum” for the disposition of this interstate custody modification hearing. The convenience of the forum, however, is not dispositive of whether the New Hanover District Court had jurisdiction to enter the 26 October 1994 order. The dispositive question is whether North Carolina has continuing jurisdiction to modify the original child custody order earlier entered in North Carolina. Although the issuance of the initial custody order provides continuing jurisdiction in intrastate child custody disputes, Tate v. Tate, 9 N.C. App. 681, 177 S.E.2d 455, 457 (1970), the initial *298custody order is not dispositive of continuing jurisdiction in interstate child custody disputes. In interstate child custody disputes, continuing jurisdiction exists in North Carolina only if, at the time of the modification request, it “has sufficient contact with the case to satisfy [N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50A-3].” Davis v. Davis, 53 N.C. App. 531, 539, 281 S.E.2d 411, 415 (1981); N.C.G.S. § 50-13.7(a) (1995) (modification of a child custody decree is “[s]ubject to the provisions” of the UCCJA); N.C.G.S. § 50A-7(a) (1989) (if the court has jurisdiction it “may decline to exercise” it).
In this case, because the child had resided in Virginia for some twenty months prior to October 1994, section 50A-3(a)(2) is the only portion of section 50A-3 that could vest North Carolina with jurisdiction. This section is known as the “significant connection” provision and requires that “the child and the .child’s parents, or the child and at least one contestant, have a significant connection with this State.” N.C.G.S. § 50A-3(a)(2) (1989). This “significant connection” provision is satisfied as long as either parent or contestant remains in the state issuing the initial custody decree. See Kumar v. Superior Court of Santa Clara County, 652 P.2d 1003, 1010 (Cal. 1982); see also Brigitte M._ Bodenheimer, The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act: A Legislative Remedy for Children Caught in the Conflict of Laws, 22 Vand. L. Rev. 1207, 1237 (1969). This reading is consistent with the stated purposes of the UCCJA, i.e., to avoid re-litigation of custody decisions in other states, to avoid jurisdictional competition, and to deter unilateral removal of children. N.C.G.S. § 50A-l(a) (1989). This construction is also consistent with the express language of the PKPA which provides that jurisdiction of the initial decree state “continues as long as . . . such State remains the residence of the child or of any contestant.” 28 U.S.C.A. § 1738A(d) (West 1994). Furthermore, to construe the “significant connection” provision otherwise would permit one parent to possibly divest jurisdiction from the state entering the initial decree simply by moving the child into another state for a period of time of at least six months. Cf. N.C.G.S. § 50A-8 (court may decline to exercise jurisdiction if the child has wrongfully been taken from another state).
Because the father was a resident of North Carolina at the time of the initial custody decree and at the time of the modification request, although the mother and the child had moved to Virginia, the New Hanover District Court had jurisdiction, pursuant to section 50A-3(a)(2), to enter its 26 October 1994 Order. For these reasons, I would affirm.