ADAMS VS. ADAMS (CHILD CUSTODY)

Statutes cited

Key holdings

Practitioner summary

Custody orders occupy an anomalous position under the Full Faith and Credit Clause because they remain modifiable. Thompson v. Thompson, 484 U.S. 174, 180 (1988). Nevada has adopted the UCCJA (NRS Chapter 125A), which tightens jurisdictional standards and limits modification of another state's decree (NRS 125A.020; NRS 125A.050(1); NRS 125A.170; NRS 125A.180(a)), and Congress enacted the PKPA (28 U.S.C. Section 1738A), which confers continuing jurisdiction on the state that issued the original decree so long as that state retains jurisdiction under its law and remains the residence of a parent or the child (Section 1738A(d)), bars a second state from exercising concurrent jurisdiction while the first state exercises jurisdiction (Section 1738A(g)), and permits modification by a second state only if the first no longer has or declines jurisdiction (Section 1738A(f)). Applying these provisions, the court held Nevada need not accord full faith and credit to the California order suspending Cynthia's visitation because Nevada continued to exercise jurisdiction. California properly assumed emergency jurisdiction based on the abuse allegations (Cal. Civ. Code Section 5152), but the Nevada judge properly conferred with the California judge under NRS 125A.070(4), and Nevada retained jurisdiction. Under NRS 125A.170, Nevada need not recognize the California order. Donald's filing in California one month after the Nevada order was the sort of forum shopping the PKPA and UCCJA were enacted to prevent; had he believed new circumstances warranted modification, he could have sought it in Nevada. The December 27, 1988 Nevada order remained in effect, and the district court's reinstatement of it, though redundant, was affirmed.

In plain language

Donald and Cynthia Adams divorced in Nevada, with Cynthia receiving custody of their three children. After allegations surfaced that Cynthia's boyfriend had sexually assaulted the children, a Nevada court modified custody, awarding Donald physical custody with weekend visitation to Cynthia; a later Nevada order gave Cynthia forty-eight hours of unsupervised monthly visitation and barred the boyfriend's presence during visits. About a month after that Nevada order, Donald, now living in northern California with the children, filed in a California court to establish the Nevada judgment, and California ordered Cynthia's visitation suspended pending further hearings. Donald also asked the Nevada court to relinquish jurisdiction to California as an inconvenient forum. After the Nevada and California judges conferred, Nevada decided to keep jurisdiction, and it reinstated Cynthia's monthly visitation. Donald appealed. The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed. Under the federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA) and the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA), the state that issued the original custody order keeps continuing jurisdiction so long as it retains jurisdiction under its own law and remains the residence of a parent or the child; another state may modify only if the first state has lost or declined jurisdiction. Because Nevada continued to exercise jurisdiction, it did not have to give full faith and credit to, or otherwise recognize, California's order suspending visitation. The court also observed that Donald engaged in the kind of "forum shopping" the PKPA and UCCJA were enacted to prevent by trying to relitigate custody in a new state just a month after the Nevada order. The December 1988 Nevada order remained in effect, making the district court's reinstatement technically redundant but proper. Affirmed.