Tags
act, authority, child custody, court, custodial rights, custody, divorce, home state, jurisidiction, law, parental, parenting status, residential parent, sole residential parent, states, UCCJEA, visitation
The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act is quite a mouthful. Judges and attorneys well versed in the law may still become toungue-tied while referencing it. The law is as important as it is verbose.
Every state in the country has adopted the UCCJEA which means that matters of custody between the states are able to be settled by a uniform set of laws no matter how distinct those two states may be in terms of custody within their own boundaries.
In today’s mobile society, it is more important than ever to have certain laws that promote judicial efficiency and economy to prevent any further harm to families. The UCCJEA lays out basic definitions such as ‘home state’ of a child that help establish a legal baseline. Without it, custody between the states would be seem more like the wild west than anything else.