In re N.B. & N.W., 289 N.C. App. 525 (2023)
Held:
Affirmed
This opinion is also summarized and discussed in the On the Civil Side blog post, UCCJEA: Transitioning from Temporary Emergency Jurisdiction to Home State Jurisdiction in A/N/D Cases
- Facts: Mother and four children lived in Washington State. This case involves two of the children who relocated to North Carolina. In October 2020, Mother separated from husband and began relocating with her children to North Carolina. Two of the children were picked up by an aunt and brought to NC later that month. In December, DSS received a report of sexual abuse by mother’s husband of one of the children staying with the aunt. In January 2021, Mother travelled with one of the children involved in this case to Pennsylvania. DSS filed petitions regarding all four children in January 2021 (the petitions for two of the children who relocated to Pennsylvania were voluntarily dismissed). Mother returned to North Carolina with the other child who is the subject of this case and appeared before the court on February 4, 2021. The court exercised temporary emergency jurisdiction to enter nonsecure custody orders for the two children. In March, the court held the adjudication hearing, at which time the mother had relocated to Charlotte The court entered its adjudication and disposition order on July 6, 2022, after determining NC had home state jurisdiction and adjudicated one of the children as a neglected and dependent juvenile and the other as a neglected and abused juvenile, continued DSS custody, suspended Mother’s visitation, and ceased reasonable efforts for reunification with Mother. Mother appeals and only challenges the court’s subject matter jurisdiction over the proceedings under the UCCJEA.
- “Whether a court possesses subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law, which this Court reviews de novo on appeal.” Sl. Op. at 5 (citation omitted).
- “The jurisdictional requirements of the UCCJEA must be satisfied for a court to have authority to adjudicate petitions filed pursuant to our Juvenile Code.” Sl. Op. at 6.
- G.S. 50A-204 “provides that the courts of this State may exercise ‘temporary emergency jurisdiction if the child is present in this State and the child has been abandoned or it is necessary in an emergency to protect the child because the child, or a sibling or parent of the child, is subjected to or threatened with mistreatment or abuse.’ “ Sl. Op. at 8-9 (citation omitted). It is uncontested that NC was not the home state of any of the children at the commencement of the proceedings as none of the children had resided in the State for six months, and that the trial court properly exercised temporary emergency jurisdiction at the initiation of the proceedings. The trial court had temporary emergency jurisdiction to enter the initial, temporary nonsecure custody orders.
- This State can become the home state of the child if a child-custody proceeding has not been or is not commenced in a court of a state having home state jurisdiction under N.C.G.S. §§ 50A-201 through 50A-203, whereby the child-custody determination made by the court in this State exercising temporary emergency jurisdiction can be declared the final determination if so provided. G.S. 50A-204(b). Applying In re M.B., 179 N.C. App. 572 (2006), a case with nearly identical facts, the trial court properly declared that NC had obtained home-state jurisdiction under the UCCJEA after it initially exercised temporary emergency jurisdiction. At the time of the adjudication and disposition order, the children and Mother had lived in North Carolina for well over six months and no other custody order existed in any other state with jurisdiction. NC acquired home state jurisdiction.
Category:
UCCJEAStage:
Subject Matter JurisdictionTopic:
Home State