In re N.B., 240 N.C. App. 353 (2015)
Held:
Affirmed
- Selected Timeline:
- March 2006, child protective petition filed in New York. Sometime afterwards, court adjudicated children neglected and ordered custody to the father
- March 2010, father and children move to North Carolina
- August 2010, NY exercised jurisdiction in a custody hearing and found no parties resided in NY and relinquished jurisdiction to NC
- October 2010, NY Court enters order “relinquishing jurisdiction to the State of NC”
- February 2013, A/N/D petition filed in NC
- July 2013, children adjudicated neglected and dependent and placed with paternal grandparents
- Pursuant to G.S. 50A-102(7), NC is the children’s “home state” as they have resided in NC with their father since March 2010.
- Pursuant to G.S. 50A-203, NC had jurisdiction to modify the NY custody order since a NY order relinquished its jurisdiction and “the original decree State is the sole determinant of whether jurisdiction continues.”
- Although respondent mother argued that the NY order relinquishing jurisdiction did not contain required findings under NY law, the UCCJEA does not require a NC court to collaterally review a facially valid order from the original decree state before exercising jurisdiction pursuant to G.S. 50A-203.
Category:
UCCJEAStage:
Subject Matter JurisdictionTopic:
Modification Jurisdiction