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Examines the need for uniform jurisdictional rules as family mobility increases and forum shopping and relitigation become serious concerns. Explains how the UCCJEA generally grants exclusive authority to the original state until defined conditions for loss of jurisdiction are met.",{"@graph":63,"@context":118},[64,80,101],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":41,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/letters/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/home-is-where-the-court-is-determining-residence-for-child-custody-matters-under-the-uccjea/306521/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/home-is-where-the-court-is-determining-residence-for-child-custody-matters-under-the-uccjea/306521.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Anna Hans","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-15","2026-09-19",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":76},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",{"@type":102,"mainEntity":103},"FAQPage",[104,110,114],{"name":105,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":107},"Why is defining “residence” difficult in child custody jurisdiction under the UCCJEA?","Question",{"text":108,"@type":109},"Residence is a slippery concept: a definition that fits one context can fail in another. The document highlights uncertainty when parties move or split time between states.","Answer",{"name":111,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":112},"How do the UCCJEA jurisdiction rules address attempts to change custody orders in a different state?",{"text":113,"@type":109},"The UCCJEA gives exclusive jurisdiction to the state making the first custody determination (the original state). Courts in a new state generally cannot hear a modification request when the original state retains authority.",{"name":115,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What problems drive the UCCJEA’s push for uniform jurisdictional standards?",{"text":117,"@type":109},"Increased mobility has made custody jurisdiction inconsistent across states. The document also emphasizes the risks of forum shopping and repeated litigation, especially when custody disputes are adversarial and children cannot protect their interests.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":120,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":122,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":124,"site_id":56},306521,1791416874,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":127},{"doc_id":124,"user_id":128,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":9,"category_id":40,"category_name":41,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":76,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":135,"language":136,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":137,"faqs":138,"seo_title":139,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":140,"read_time":15},5909892332657,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","06 WESSEL CMT (DO NOT DELETE) 10/9/2012 10:37 AM  \nHome Is Where the Court Is: Determining Residence for Child Custody Matters under the UCCJEA  \nKevin Wessel†  \nWe hesitate to essay any definition of “residence,” for the word is like a slippery eel, and the definition which fits one situation will wriggle out of our hands when used in another context or ina different sense.  \nJudge Justin Ruark1 INTRODUCTION  \nAs families have become more mobile over the past fifty years, legislatures have struggled to make jurisdictional standards in child custody matters uniform across states. The attempts have been somewhat unsuccessful due in large part to the difficulty of defining a person’s residence. Suppose a Texas court issues a divorce decree to John and Jane and awards Jane sole custody of the couple’s daughter. But Jane moves with her daughter to Florida, wanting to be closer to her other family. John is given visitation rights under the Texas order and makes frequent trips to Florida to spend time with his daughter. If one of the parents wants to go to court to alter the custody determination, which state—Texas or Florida—has jurisdiction?  \nThe uniform statute that both states have enacted says that Texas retains exclusive jurisdiction as long as any party “presently resides” in Texas.2 If John spends a month in Florida for visitation with his daughter, does he still presently reside in Texas? What if he goes to Florida for two months on a work assignment? If he moves to Florida for the foreseeable future but keeps his house in Texas and eventually intends to return?  \nThese are the questions that lawmakers and courts have dealt with—and they have attempted not only to find answers but also to make the answers uniform in all fifty states. Having well-defined jurisdictional rules is critical in child custody determinations. Before  \n† BA 2010, Georgetown University; JD Candidate 2013, The University of Chicago Law School.  \n1 State v Tustin, 322 SW2d 179, 180 (Mo App 1959) .  \n2 Tex Fam Code Ann § 152.202(a)(2); Fla Stat § 61.516(a)(2) .  \n06 WESSEL CMT (DO NOT DELETE) 10/9/2012 10:37 AM  \n1142 The University of Chicago Law Review [79:1141  \nthe passage of statutes standardizing jurisdiction in these cases, parental kidnapping was common.3 When John lost the first custody battle in Texas, he could simply take his daughter to Florida and ask a court there to modify the custody order. If Florida would not rule for John, perhaps Oklahoma or Alabama would.4 Forum shopping and relitigation—generally accepted as problematic in any setting5—are even larger concerns in child custody battles, where the parties are “impassioned and adversarial” and the child cannot protect herself.6 With mobility and child custody issues on the rise—one in every two marriages ends in divorce, and a high number of children are born outside of wedlock7—the need for uniformity is greater than ever.  \nThe most recent attempt to make jurisdictional standards uniform is the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), a model law adopted by forty-nine states.8 The UCCJEA gives the state that makes the first child custody determination—a state referred to in this Comment as the “original state”—exclusive jurisdiction.9 In our hypothetical, Texas, as the original state, would be the only state with jurisdiction after it gave Jane primary custody of her daughter. If John tried to go to Florida—the“new state”—to get a new order, the Florida courts could not hear his case. Because it would be unrealistic for Texas to retain jurisdiction forever, however, the UCCJEA attempts to clearly de-  \n3 See Christopher L. Blakesley, Comparativist Ruminations from the Bayou on Child Custody Jurisdiction: The UCCJA, the PKPA, and the Hague Convention on Child Abduction, 58 La L Rev 449, 464 (1998) (reporting estimates of between 25,000 and 100,000 child abductions annually in divorce situations) .  \n4 See id at 463–64. Modifications of child custody orders ar","cbCaikDj784IJzpE","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikDj784IJzpE","pdf",180730,35,"English","# Introduction\n## The residence problem in custody jurisdiction\n## Forum shopping and the need for uniformity\n## The UCCJEA framework and exclusive jurisdiction\n## When the original state loses jurisdiction","[{\"question\":\"Why is defining “residence” difficult in child custody jurisdiction under the UCCJEA?\",\"answer\":\"Residence is a slippery concept: a definition that fits one context can fail in another. The document highlights uncertainty when parties move or split time between states.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the UCCJEA jurisdiction rules address attempts to change custody orders in a different state?\",\"answer\":\"The UCCJEA gives exclusive jurisdiction to the state making the first custody determination (the original state). Courts in a new state generally cannot hear a modification request when the original state retains authority.\"},{\"question\":\"What problems drive the UCCJEA’s push for uniform jurisdictional standards?\",\"answer\":\"Increased mobility has made custody jurisdiction inconsistent across states. The document also emphasizes the risks of forum shopping and repeated litigation, especially when custody disputes are adversarial and children cannot protect their interests.\"}]","Home Is Where the Court Is - Determining Residence for Child Custody Matters under the UCCJEA | PDF",1789837441]