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Where Do I Turn Now for Jurisdiction?

By Rebecca Palmer and Kristopher Kest

A father and his four-year-old son are walking out of the father's house in a small town in North Carolina. The father has his suitcase in his right hand and two passports clutched between his fingers. With his other hand he pulls his son along, who is in turn pulling his own small wheeled suitcase behind him. Suddenly, two sheriff's deputies approach the pair and inform the father (quietly, so his son does not hear) that, although he is not under arrest, his son is being removed from him and placed in the state's care pending a hearing regarding the custody dispute between him and his ex-wife.

The father protests, knowing that his ex-wife does not live in North Carolina, that the most recent child-custody determination was entered by a New Jersey court, and believing that he must be entitled to a hearing before his son can be removed from him. The deputies then serve the father with a Warrant to Take Physical Custody of a Child, and secure the child into a car seat. As they are driving away, the father yells after them, asking where his son will be. The deputies tell him that the information is on the warrant. When the father reads the warrant, he sees a reference to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. The father also sees that a hearing is set for the next day and that, to his dismay, he will have to pay his ex-wife's attorney's fees, travel expenses, and child care costs if he loses.

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