Watson v. Watson

• Decision Date: 01 December 2006
• Docket Number: No. S-05-1423.,S-05-1423.
• Parties: Jill C. WATSON, now known as Jill C. Day, Appellee, v. Robert W. WATSON, Appellant.
• Court: Nebraska Supreme Court

Page 24

724 N.W.2d 24

272 Neb. 647

Jill C. WATSON, now known as Jill C. Day, Appellee, v. Robert W. WATSON, Appellant.

No. S-05-1423.

Supreme Court of Nebraska.

December 1, 2006.

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Chris A. Johnson, of Conway, Pauley & Johnson, P.C., Hastings, for appellant.

Robin L. Binning, of Binning & Plambeck, Bellevue, for appellee.

WRIGHT, CONNOLLY, GERRARD, STEPHAN, McCORMACK, and MILLER-LERMAN, JJ.

WRIGHT, J.

NATURE OF CASE

This case involves interstate jurisdictional questions governed by the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), Neb.Rev.Stat. §§ 43-1226 to 43-1266 (Reissue 2004). In 2002, the district court for Sarpy County, Nebraska, dissolved the marriage of Jill C. Watson (now known as Jill C. Day) and Robert W. Watson and awarded custody of the parties' children to Jill, subject to Robert's visitation rights. With the court's permission, Jill later moved with the children to Maryland.

In the case at bar, Robert filed a motion for contempt in the district court, alleging that Jill had refused to allow the children to visit him. Jill then moved the court to release its jurisdiction over the matter and transfer the cause to Maryland. The court sustained Jill's motion and denied Robert's contempt motion. Robert appeals from the court's order. We reverse the judgment and remand the cause with directions.

SCOPE OF REVIEW

Statutory interpretation is a matter of law, in connection with which an appellate court has an obligation to reach an independent, correct conclusion irrespective of the determination made by the court below. Troshynski v. Nebraska State Bd. of Pub. Accountancy, 270 Neb. 347, 701 N.W.2d 379 (2005).

This court has not previously discussed the standard of review regarding jurisdictional issues under the UCCJEA. The Nebraska Legislature adopted the UCCJEA to repeal and replace the Nebraska Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (NCCJA), operative January 1, 2004. See, 2003 Neb. Laws, L.B. 148; White v. White, 271 Neb. 43, 709 N.W.2d 325 (2006). In considering whether jurisdiction existed under the NCCJA, we stated that when a jurisdictional question does not involve a factual dispute, determination of the issue is a matter of law, which requires an appellate court to reach a conclusion independent from the trial court. However, when the determination rests on factual findings, a trial court's decision on the issue will be upheld unless the factual findings concerning jurisdiction are clearly incorrect. White v. White, supra.

The question as to whether jurisdiction existing under the NCCJA should be exercised was entrusted to the discretion of the trial court and was reviewed de novo on the record for abuse of discretion. As in other matters entrusted to a trial judge's discretion, absent an abuse of discretion, the decision will be upheld on appeal. See White v. White, supra. We determine that the same standards of review should govern questions concerning whether jurisdiction exists under the UCCJEA and whether that jurisdiction should be exercised. Therefore, the question whether jurisdiction should be exercised under the UCCJEA is entrusted to the discretion of the trial court and is reviewed de novo on the record for abuse of discretion by the appellate court.

FACTS

Robert and Jill were married in 1993. Three children were born of their marriage. The marriage was dissolved in June 2002 by decree of the district court for Sarpy County. Jill was awarded custody and control of the minor children, subject to reasonable visitation rights reserved in Robert.

On July 11, 2003, Jill filed an application to permanently remove the children from Nebraska to Maryland. The district court granted Jill's request. The Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's order, but modified Robert's visitation schedule. See Watson v. Watson, No. A-03-1165, 2004 WL 1724902 (Neb.App. Aug. 3, 2004) (not designated for permanent publication). The children have resided in Maryland with Jill since October 18, 2003.

On October 22, 2004, Jill filed in the circuit court for Howard County, Maryland, a petition to register the dissolution decree and related judgments and to establish jurisdiction in that court. Robert filed no response, and the Maryland court granted Jill's petition.

On January 19, 2005, Jill filed in the Maryland court a petition to modify Robert's visitation schedule. Robert moved to dismiss, alleging that Nebraska had exclusive and continuing jurisdiction over the matter. The Maryland court denied Robert's motion. It concluded that because he had not objected to the registration of the dissolution decree and related judgments in Maryland, Robert had waived his right to challenge the authority of the court to enforce or modify such orders. Robert appealed the Maryland court's order and requested review by an en banc panel. Robert's appeal is apparently pending in Maryland.

Robert filed a motion for contempt in the district court for Sarpy County on July 11, 2005, alleging that Jill had refused to allow the children to visit him. Jill subsequently filed a motion requesting that the district court relinquish jurisdiction of the pending matters and transfer jurisdiction to the State of Maryland. Jill informed the district court that she had registered the dissolution decree and related judgments in the Maryland court and that Robert had not objected to such registration.

On October 21, 2005, the district court determined that all matters related to the dissolution decree should be transferred to Maryland because Jill had registered the decree in the Maryland court and Robert had not objected. The district court granted Jill's motion to transfer jurisdiction and denied Robert's motion for contempt. Robert timely appealed the district court's ruling, and this court moved the appeal to its docket on its own motion, pursuant to its statutory authority to regulate the caseloads of the appellate courts of this state. See Neb.Rev.Stat. § 24-1106(3) (Reissue 1995).

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

Robert claims, summarized and restated, that the district court erred (1) in not following the UCCJEA and (2) in denying his motion for contempt without hearing any evidence on the issue.

ANALYSIS

Jurisdiction over child custody proceedings is governed by the UCCJEA. See Neb.Rev.Stat. § 42-351(1) (Reissue 2004). A child custody proceeding for purposes of the UCCJEA is a proceeding in which legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child is an issue. Lamb v. Lamb, 14 Neb.App. 337, 707 N.W.2d 423 (2005). See § 43-1227(4). The case at bar involves a child custody proceeding as defined in the UCCJEA.

The UCCJEA was promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1997 to replace the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA) (which was referred to in Nebraska as "the NCCJA"). The UCCJEA has been adopted in 42 states, including Nebraska and Maryland. See Unif. Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (1997), Table of Jurisdictions Wherein Act Has Been Adopted, 9 U.L.A. 74 (Cum. Supp. 2006).

In promulgating the UCCJEA, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws sought to clarify a number of ambiguities that had caused the UCCJA to be interpreted differently and applied inconsistently from one jurisdiction to another. See Kelly Gaines Stoner, The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction & Enforcement Act (UCCJEA)—A Metamorphosis of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA), 75 N.D. L.Rev. 301 (1999). For example, the UCCJEA clarifies the rules for original, modification, and enforcement jurisdiction. Seamans v. Seamans, 73 Ark.App. 27, 37 S.W.3d 693 (2001). The purposes of the UCCJEA are to avoid interstate jurisdictional competition and conflict in child custody matters, to promote cooperation between courts of other states so that a custody determination can be rendered in a state best suited to decide the case in the interest of the child, to discourage the use of the interstate system for continuing custody controversies, to deter child abductions, to avoid relitigation of custody issues, and to facilitate enforcement of custody orders. Unif. Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (1997), § 101, comment, 9 U.L.A. 657 (1999).

The UCCJEA requires courts, when applying and construing the act, to consider the need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter among the states that enact it. See § 43-1265. The UCCJEA was intended to resolve jurisdictional conflicts that had arisen under the UCCJA due to unclear language and inconsistent application. See Stoner, supra. Conflicting interpretation of the UCCJA had resulted in a loss of uniformity among states. See Prefatory Note, Unif. Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (1997), 9 U.L.A. 649 (1999). See, also, Vannatta v. Boulds, 318 Mont. 472, 475, 81 P.3d 480, 482-83 (2003) (stating that one purpose of UCCJEA was to "`eliminate inconsistent state court interpretations of jurisdictional issues'"). The goal of uniformity under the UCCJEA can be realized only if trial courts in each state make requisite considerations under the act and follow its procedures.

The district court for Sarpy County had exclusive and continuing jurisdiction under the UCCJEA of the custody and visitation issues involved in this case because the court had made the initial child custody determination. See § 43-1239. Accord Shanoski v. Miller, 780 A.2d 275 (Me.2001). Jurisdiction remained in the district court either until jurisdiction was lost under § 43-1239(a) or until the court declined to exercise its jurisdiction under § 43-1244 for the reason of an inconvenient forum. Below, we address whether either of those scenarios occurred.

EXCLUSIVE AND CONTINUING JURISDICTION

Statutory interpretation is a matter of law, in connection with which an appellate court has an obligation to reach an...