§46.10 Interstate Recognition and Full Faith and Credit

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§ 46.10 INTERSTATE RECOGNITION AND FULL FAITH AND CREDIT

Federal law requires a state to grant full faith and credit and enforce any custody determination that was given in compliance with the PKPA. 28 U.S.C. § 1738A(a). The UCCJEA provides the comparable state mandate in RCW 26.27.421(1) and .521. It requires a court to recognize and enforce a custody decree from another state if the issuing state exercised jurisdiction in a manner that complied with Chapter 26.27 RCW and the order has not been modified. RCW 26.27.421(1), .521. The UCCJEA provides additional enforcement remedies, which are discussed in § 46.11, below, but these remedies are considered to be cumulative. RCW 26.27.421(2) incorporates the concept that a custody order from the other state may be enforced in the same manner as a custody order from the enforcement state, so contempt or tort remedies are still available. The enforcement state, however, does not have the power to modify the order being enforced. UCCJEA § 303 cmt. The duty to enforce without modification is repeated in RCW 26.27.521, which requires that full faith and credit be given to an enforcement order issued by another state unless the enforcement order has been vacated, stayed, or modified by a court with jurisdiction. Concerns about the recognition of custody determinations from other countries are discussed in § 46.04[5], above.

The recognition requirement is illustrated by Hudson v. Hudson, 35 Wn. App. 822, 833, 837, 670 P.2d 287 (1983), in which an Indiana custody order was enforced by the Washington court because it was entered in compliance with the UCCJA and the notice given to the respondent in the Indiana custody proceeding satisfied the requirements of due process for such proceedings. "[T]he question presented is whether the courts of this state are mandated by RCW 26.27.130...