This post will discuss jurisdiction issues in Minnesota family law. In Minnesota, like many other states, there is a law called the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJEA).
The UCCJEA and Jurisdiction in Minnesota
The UCCJEA is a federal law that has been, almost uniformly, adopted by every state in the United States. The law governs what court has jurisdiction over children who may move between states with their parents.
For instance if someone has a divorce to in the state of Wisconsin and later they move to Minnesota, getting Minnesota to assume jurisdiction is difficult. The UCCJEA basically states that if emergency circumstances are proven, and they are very hard to prove, a Minnesota court can issue a temporary child custody order but only until a court in Wisconsin issues an order in the original divorce file modifying custody. Basically, this means that parties who wish to modify their child custody must do so in the original state where the original Custody Order was issued.
Again, if the original divorce decree issues out of the state of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin courts will have jurisdiction over all Minnesota custody modification motions.
There are some very limited circumstances when a court in Minnesota. If there is abandonment or other physical abuse of the children, Minnesota court may be able to make a finding on custody and other family law issues. However, people need to understand that the facts must be very specific. What people should take out of this post and and the UCCJEA is that it is very difficult to modify jurisdiction after one state court has made an order on the issue of child custody. This can’t be in a divorce case or a general child custody case, paternity, or other family law case.
Finally, this post was not written to state that motions for modification of child custody and change or jurisdiction cannot be made – it was simply written to explain that it may be difficult and the facts must be very specific. If you have questions you should speak with a Minnesota divorce attorney.
More information about modifying child custody orders from another state, please contact the lawyers at Flanders Law Firm LLC at 612-424-o398.
