A recent Georgia Court of Appeals decision resolves a
two-year-long jurisdictional dispute between spouses regarding whether, under
the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), their
custody case should proceed in Michigan or Georgia. The parties had
undisputedly been living in the Mid-West (the husband traveled between
Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana for work) until the wife decided not to return
from Georgia with the children after a family vacation. She filed a complaint
for custody in Georgia, and subsequently, the husband filed a divorce complaint
in Michigan.
In
February 2016, the Michigan trial court dismissed the custody case in Michigan,
finding that under the UCCJEA jurisdiction was proper in Georgia because the
Georgia case had been filed first.
On
October 10, 2016, the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed. Bowman v Bowman,
Docket No. 331870. The Court of Appeals held that the trial court erred because
it should have followed the procedure stated in MCL 722.1206 for a
child-custody proceeding commenced when a child-custody proceeding has already
been commenced in a court of another state with jurisdiction in substantial
conformity with the UCCJEA. Specifically, MCL 722.1206 requires the court to
communicate with the court of the other state, and that court of the other
state may determine whether it will exercise jurisdiction.
On
remand the Michigan trial court communicated with the Georgia trial court, and
the trial courts decided that Georgia would exercise jurisdiction. However, the
husband appealed the Georgia trial court’s exercise of jurisdiction to the
Georgia Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile,
the Michigan trial court had to determine whether the divorce case could remain
in Michigan without the custody portion of the divorce case. The trial court
simply dismissed the case because the custody case was to be in Georgia, but
the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the trial court had to
consider whether the husband satisfied the residency requirements for a
divorce. Bowman v Bowman, Docket No. 339702.
Most
recently, on March 6, 2018, the Georgia Court of Appeals issued a decision
holding that the Georgia trial court did not have jurisdiction. Bowman v
Bowman, Case No. A17A2082. The Georgia Court of Appeals noted that at the
time the wife filed the custody petition, the only connections between the
children and Georgia were that one of the children was born there, they had
grandparents and other family there, and they had visited those grandparents in
Georgia in the past. These were not significant connections sufficient to
satisfy the UCCJEA and Georgia could not exercise jurisdiction because
significant connections existed between the children and Michigan as determined
by the Michigan trial court. Thus, the Georgia Court of Appeals remanded the
case for dismissal.
After
two years, and three appellate decisions in two separate states, the courts
have finally come to the conclusion that a spouse may not simply file a custody
petition in another state while visiting for a vacation.
Labels: Bowman v Bowman, Child custody, divorce, Georgia COA, jurisdiction, MCL 722.1206, Michigan COA, UCCJEA
