The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) sets rules for deciding which state’s court can make or change child custody and visitation orders. It also provides ways to enforce custody orders across state lines. It determines which court can hear the case, not which parent should receive custody.

In California Family Law

California’s UCCJEA begins at Family Code section 3400. For an initial custody case, section 3421 generally gives priority to the child’s home state. This usually means the state where the child lived with a parent or person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the case began. For a child younger than six months, it means the state where the child lived from birth with such a person. Temporary absences count toward that period.

For example, a child lives in Arizona with both parents for two years. One parent then moves with the child to California. If a custody case begins two weeks later and the other parent still lives in Arizona, Arizona generally retains home-state priority. The move alone does not give California authority to decide the case.

Other grounds may apply when no state has home-state jurisdiction or the home-state court declines jurisdiction. Once a court makes a custody order with proper jurisdiction, separate rules govern its continuing authority and another state’s ability to change the order. A California court may also decline a case if another state is a more appropriate forum under section 3427.

Section 3424 allows temporary emergency jurisdiction in specified circumstances when the child is in California, including abandonment or an emergency involving mistreatment or abuse of the child, a sibling, or a parent. Emergency authority does not automatically transfer the ongoing custody case.

An out-of-state custody order may also be registered in California for enforcement under section 3445. Child support follows a different law, the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA).