Legislatures Consider Replacing UCCJA With UCCJEA

UCCJEA Section 305 -- REGISTRATION OF ORDERS

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 §146.26 (UCCJEA SECTION 305) ON REGISTRATION inserts into the Act a rather elaborate set of requirements and procedures for a phenomenon that was beautifully rule-free under the old Act. The new one sets up a whole parallel scheme of litigation whereby a custody case or a custody jurisdiction issue might be tried independently of the other provisions of the statute. Under the old Act a person could hardly contest the validity of a registered order at all. Now registration presumably means a bit more - a trial within a trial, really - and one loses the right to contest registration after 20 days from service. It is not certain that everyone will contemplate what registration means upon receiving such notice, especially since its meaning is fundamentally changed by this revision.

Comment: The present form of registration is better. Has anybody ever heard anything to the effect that it has anything wrong with it? Registration under the old act was automatic, and there were no defenses to it. However, registration, although it made a foreign decree a decree of the court, was never supposed to deprive anyone of the right to contest the first forum's lack of jurisdiction. Now it appears that someone who lets registration happen (perhaps believing that it means no more than it did under the original Uniform Act) may be forever deprived (under §F) of that basic and constitutional right, which has always been a part of our law and the law of every state, to contest the lack of subject matter jurisdiction at any time. This is neither logical, fair, nor wise.

Text of this Section of Uniform Act:

Virginia Version:

§20-146.26. Registration of child custody determination.

A. A child custody determination issued by a court of another state may be registered in this Commonwealth, with or without a simultaneous request for enforcement, by sending to the appropriate juvenile and domestic relations district court in this Commonwealth :

1. A letter or other document requesting registration;

2. Two copies, including one certified copy, of the determination sought to be registered, and a statement under penalty of perjury that to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person seeking registration the order has not been modified; and

3. Except as otherwise provided in §20-146.20, the name and address of the person seeking registration and any parent or person acting as a parent who has been awarded custody or visitation in the child custody determination sought to be registered.

B. On receipt of the documents required by subsection A, the registering court shall:

1. Cause the determination to be filed as a foreign judgment, together with one copy of any accompanying documents and information, regardless of their form; and

2. Serve notice upon the persons named pursuant to subdivision A3 and provide them with an opportunity to contest the registration in accordance with this section.

ALL THE LANGUAGE BELOW WAS DROPPED FROM THE FINAL VERSION:

C. The notice required by subdivision B2 must state that:

1. A registered determination is enforceable as of the date of the registration in the same manner as a determination issued by a court of this Commonwealth;

2. A hearing to contest the validity of the registered determination must be requested within twenty days after service of notice; and

3. Failure to contest the registration will result in confirmation of the child custody determination and preclude further contest of that determination with respect to any matter that could have been asserted.

D. A person seeking to contest the validity of a registered order must request a hearing within twenty days after service of the notice. At that hearing, the court shall confirm the registered order unless the person contesting registration establishes that:

1. The issuing court did not have jurisdiction under Article 2 (§20-146.12 et seq.);

2. The child custody determination sought to be registered has been vacated, stayed, or modified by a court having jurisdiction to do so under Article 2; or

3. The person contesting registration was entitled to notice, but notice was not given in accordance with the standards of §20-146.7, in the proceedings before the court that issued the order for which registration is sought.

E. If a timely request for a hearing to contest the validity of the registration is not made, the registration is confirmed as a matter of law and the person requesting registration and all persons served must be notified of the confirmation.

F. Confirmation of a registered order, whether by operation of law or after notice and hearing, precludes further contest of the order with respect to any matter that could have been asserted at the time of registration.

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