Family Law Newsletter
| Publication year | 1982 |
| Pages | 1224 |
| Citation | Vol. 11 No. 5 Pg. 1224 |
1982, May, Pg. 1224. Family Law Newsletter
The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act ("UCCJA") now has been adopted by most states since its promulgation in the early 1970s. Its general purposes include the following:
1) to avoid jurisdictional competition and conflict with courts of other states in matters of child custody;
2) to promote cooperation with courts of other states in custody matters in the best interest of the child;
3) to assure that custody litigation takes place ordinarily in the state with which the child and his family have the closest connection, and where significant evidence concerning the welfare of the child is most readily available; and
4) to discourage continuing controversies and deter abductions of children in order to obtain custody awards by forum shopping by a parent.
At the present time, only two or three states have not yet adopted the UCCJA. Colorado has been a leader in rendering a wealth of judicial decisions interpreting the UCCJA, and is looked to by many as setting the interpretive pace for this significant uniform legislation.
Perhaps the most important issues of the UCCJA, in terms of everyday practice, concern the relationships among §§ 3, 6, 13, and 14 of the Act.(fn1) C.R.S. 1973, § 14-13-104, entitled "Jurisdiction," sets forth the various bases for the acquisition of custody jurisdiction by a state court. These jurisdictional prerequisites differ from those utilized in custody proceedings in the past, and are designed to provide a forum that has a significant contact with the child and his family in furtherance of the policy of the Act. For example, contrary to prior case law in many states, the physical presence of a child alone in a state is not a prerequisite to jurisdiction in custody proceedings, nor is it sufficient to confer custody jurisdiction under the UCCJA.(fn2)
Even though a state court may have acquired jurisdiction under C.R.S. 1973, § 14-13-104, it is not necessarily bound to exercise it. Indeed, C.R.S. 1973, § 14-13-107, entitled "Simultaneous Proceedings in Other States," sets forth the legislative criteria for requiring the court not to exercise its jurisdiction. The relationship between these two sections of the UCCJA has been addressed by Colorado appellate courts in recent...
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