Brief Fact Summary. Mother surrendered custody of her child to petitioners, as did the person mother alleged as father. Mother later recanted and admitted another father was the biological father, and this father petitioned for paternity and custody. The Iowa court granted father custody, but a Michigan court granted petitioners request to modify the custody ruling.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. If a custody determination in a state is consistent with the provisions of the UCJA and the PKPA, every State shall enforce its terms and not modify the decision.
Issue. Did the Michigan court have jurisdiction to rule on the petitioner’s claims and did petitioners have standing?
Held. Michigan did not have jurisdiction and petitioners did not have standing based upon the previous Iowa ruling and the UCJA and PKPA.
The UCJA provides standards for determining whether a state may take jurisdiction of a child custody dispute and sets forth circumstances in which the courts of other states are prohibited from subsequently taking jurisdiction, are required to enforce custody decisions, and are permitted to modify such decisions. The Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA) imposes a duty on States to enforce a child custody determination entered by a court of a sister Stet if the determination is consistent with the provisions of the Act. The Michigan Court of Appeals agreed with Schmidt that the court lacked jurisdiction to modify the Iowa custody orders and was required to enforce them.
The purpose of the PKPA is to deal with inconsistent and conflicting law and practices by which courts determine their jurisdiction to decide disputes between persons claiming custody. The petitioners’ argument is that the best interests purpose of the PKPA mandates a best interests analysis in Iowa, and that Iowa’s decision is not entitled to full faith and credit without such analysis. Thus, the forum state is permitted to address the merits of the case and modify the foreign decree.
Certainty and stability are given priority under the PKPA, with the home state retaining exclusive continuing jurisdiction. If a custody determination is consistent with its provisions, every State shall enforce its terms and not modify the decision. At the time of the termination and adoption proceedings, Iowa unquestionably had jurisdiction. Schmidt continued to reside in Iowa. The state may only modify Iowa’s order if Iowa has declined to exercise its jurisdiction to modify it. Iowa has not so declined.
Petitioners first argue that the UCCJA grants them standing in this case. The Iowa district court’s ruling granting them temporary custody may have created standing, but when the temporary custody order was rescinded, they became third parties to the child and no longer had a basis on which to claim a substantive right of custody. The next friend of the child argues the right of a minor child to bring a Child Custody Act action and obtain a best interests of the child hearing regarding her custody. The act’s consistent distinction between the parties and the child makes clear that the act is intended to resolve disputes among adults seeking custody of the child. Children have a due process liberty, however, in this Court’s view it is not independent of the child’s parents. The natural parent’s right to custody s not to be disturbed absent a showing of unfitness.
This Court also disagrees with the next friend’s assertion that the child’s interests were not considered in Iowa. A guardian ad litem was appointed before Schmidt moved to intervene. There is no basis for requiring the court to use the best interests of the child standard.
The PKPA does not create an implied cause of action in federal court to determine which of two conflicting state custody decrees is valid.
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