Chapter 40 - § 40.4 • JURISDICTION IN A NEW STATE

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 40.4 • JURISDICTION IN A NEW STATE

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, drafters of UIFSA and the UCCJEA, chose to base UIFSA jurisdiction on "traditional" jurisdictional concepts, rather than to use the more radical "child-state" jurisdictional concepts of the UCCJEA. See J. J. Sampson, "Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (with Unofficial Annotations)," 27 Fam. L. Q. 93, 106-107, nn. 24-26 (1993). The result of this choice is that, when both parents leave the issuing state, two separate states can become the battlegrounds for a high-conflict family's ongoing war: one state for child custody, and another state for child support. This choice was in conflict with the recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Interstate Child Support, "Supporting Our Children: A Blueprint for Reform," at 84, 87-88, and has resulted in the frequent bifurcation of paternity, custody, and support issues, see Sampson, supra at 119, n. 63;³⁶ a result the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws stated it wished to avoid.

§ 40.4.1—Child Support

A court has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction over a child support order it enters as long as the issuing state remains the residence of the obligor, the individual obligee, or the child for whose benefit the order was entered, or until each individual party has filed written consent with the issuing tribunal to allow another state to modify the order and assume continuing, exclusive jurisdiction. C.R.S. § 14-5-205(a)(1). If no one lives in the state that issued the order and there is no agreement of the parties to retain jurisdiction under C.R.S. § 14-5-205(a)(2), the party wishing to modify child support must register the existing order for modification in the home state of the responding party, unless each individual party has filed written consent with the issuing tribunal to allow another state in which one party is resident to modify the order and assume continuing, exclusive jurisdiction over the support issue. C.R.S. § 14-5-611(a)(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1738B(i). These provisions of UIFSA and the FFCCSOA confer subject matter jurisdiction on the court of the state that will modify the original order.

If all parties currently reside in Colorado, UIFSA provides that the existing order may be registered here and modified as though it were a Colorado order. C.R.S. § 14-5-613.³⁷ If parties wish to use the domestication statute, or simply wish to file a new action for support in Colorado, the new...