Legislatures Consider Replacing UCCJA With UCCJEA

UCCJEA Section 105 -- INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION

Article by Richard Crouch, Attorney at Law, Crouch & Crouch, Arlington, Virginia; (703) 528-6700;
Copyright Richard Crouch 1999. Originally Published in Family Law News, a Virginia
State Bar Publication

Table of Contents of UCCJA Article | Introduction

Proposed §146.4 (UCCJEA SECTION 105) INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION is an improvement. The predecessor section was stupidly worded, and this is clearer. Subsection (b) speaks of a determination made in a foreign country under "factual circumstances" and substantial conformity with the jurisdictional standards of the UCCJA. Whether this phrase should be something more like "legal circumstances" is open to question. This wording has, I suppose, worked for years as part of the old §6.

Subsection (c), denying application of the Act when the child custody law of the other country "violates fundamental principles of human rights" sounds very nice, but may be quite dangerous. The reason is that concepts such as "fundamental principles of human rights," which should be so basic and self-evident, have become quite elastic with the toleration in recent years of some very wild rhetorical excess. In our age of irresponsible political rhetoric which depends upon reasoning by metaphor, poetic logic and psychological truth, this concept is constantly being redefined.

Text of this Section of Uniform Act:

SECTION 105. INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION OF [ACT].

(a) A court of this State shall treat a foreign country as if it were a
State of the United States for the purpose of applying [Articles] 1 and
2.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c), a child-custody
determination made in a foreign country under factual circumstances in
substantial conformity with the jurisdictional standards of this [Act]
must be recognized and enforced under [Article] 3.

(c) A court of this State need not apply this [Act] if the child custody
law of a foreign country violates fundamental principles of human
rights.

Virginia Version:

§20-146.4. International application.

A. A court of this Commonwealth shall treat a foreign country as if it were a state of the United States for purposes of applying this article and Article 2 (§20-146.12 et seq.).

B. Except as otherwise provided in subsection C, a child custody determination made in a foreign country under factual circumstances in substantial conformity with the jurisdictional standards of this Act must be recognized and enforced under Article 3 (§20-146.22 et seq.).

C. A court of this Commonwealth need not apply this Act if the child custody law of a foreign country violates fundamental principles of human rights.

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