JOSEPH A. BARNES, APPELLANT,
v.
LINDA L. OSTRANDER, APPELLEE
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Father appealed a Florida trial court's dismissal of his suit for custody modification, claiming lack of jurisdiction. The court properly declined jurisdiction under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act because the father had improperly retained the child in Florida following summer visitation, and the statute discourages such "child snatching" and forum shopping.
The court properly declined jurisdiction under Florida Statute section 61.1318(2), which prohibits exercising jurisdiction to modify another state's custody decree when the petitioner has improperly retained a child after temporary custody, absent compelling interests in the child's welfare. The trial court did not err in concluding such interests did not require Florida to assume jurisdiction.
[1] A Florida court shall not exercise jurisdiction to modify a custody decree of another state if the petitioner has improperly retained the child after a visit or other tem…
[2] A court may decline jurisdiction to modify a custody decree of another state based on the petitioner's improper retention of the child, even if the petitioner alleges the…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Unless required in the interest of the child, the court shall not exercise its jurisdiction to modify a custody decree of another state if the petitioner, without consent of the person entitled to custody, has improperly removed the child from the physical custody of the person entitled to custody or has improperly retained the child after a visit or other temporary relinquishment of physical custody.”
The statutory basis for the trial court's declining jurisdiction, establishing the policy against child snatching and forum shopping in custody modification cases.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceParents divorced in Michigan in 1974 with custody awarded to mother. Mother and daughter moved to Illinois; father moved to Florida. In October 1983, …
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GRIMES, Judge.
This appeal involves a suit for change of custody under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act.
The parties were divorced in Michigan in 1974. Custody of their minor daughter, Victoria, was awarded to the wife. Victoria and her mother moved to Illinois, and the husband now lives in Florida. In October of 1983, the husband filed suit in Florida for change of custody, alleging that Victoria had been living with him since July of 1983. He asserted that Victoria had been seen by several physicians and the All Childrens’ Hospital Cleft Palate Team and that she was in need of surgical intervention to correct certain facial deformities. The husband claimed that he had previously sought to have the wife take such action but that she had neglected to do so.
The wife moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and filed an affidavit stating that the husband had illegally kept Victoria in Florida following her summer visitation with him. She also pointed out that she had been advised in the past to “hold off” on surgery but that she had now scheduled an appointment for Victoria at the University of Illinois Hospital. The court entered an order declining jurisdiction to modify the Michigan custody decree upon the authority of section 61.1318(2), Florida Statutes (1983), and Mondy v. Mondy, 428 So. 2d 235 (Fla.1983). We affirm.
The husband does not contend that Florida is the “home state” of the child as defined by the uniform act. He asserts jurisdiction under section 61.1308(l)(b), which authorizes a court to make a custody determination if:
(b) It is in the best interest of the child that a court of this state assume jurisdiction because: 1. The child and his parents, or the child and at least one contestant, have a significant connection with this state, and
2. There is available in this state substantial evidence concerning the child’s present or future care, protection, training, and personal relationships.
Section 61.1318(2), the statute upon which the court declined jurisdiction, reads in pertinent part:
Unless required in the interest of the child, the court shall not exercise its jurisdiction to modify a custody decree of another state if the petitioner, without consent of the person entitled to custody, has improperly removed the child from the physical custody of the person entitled to custody or has improperly retained the child after a visit or other temporary relinquishment of physical custody....
The husband first suggests that it does not appear from the face of the complaint that he had improperly retained the child following a period of temporary custody. However, the wife filed an affidavit to this effect, and he never denied the truth of the assertion. Speaking motions with supporting affidavits may be filed in order to attack jurisdiction over the subject matter. See H. Trawick, Florida Practice and Procedure § 3-3 (1983).
The husband also argues that the court should have at least taken testimony in order to determine whether to accept jurisdiction “in the best interest of the child.” Even assuming the truth of the husband’s allegations, we cannot say that the court erred in concluding that the interest of the child did not require the Florida court to assume jurisdiction. The husband was in violation of the Michigan judgment, and section 61.1318(2) is designed to discourage child snatching and forum shopping in custody cases. Cf. Mondy v. Mon-dy (wherein the supreme court reversed the trial judge for failure to decline jurisdiction by invoking the clean hands provision of the statute).
AFFIRMED.
BOARDMAN, A.C.J., concurs.
CAMPBELL, J., specially concurs with opinion.
CAMPBELL, Judge,
specially concurring with opinion.
I concur with the result reached in this case because I cannot say that the trial judge so abused his discretion as to require our reversal. However, I would also, on the same basis, have affirmed his actions if he had concluded that the best interests of the child warranted his exercise of jurisdiction.
If the “best interest of the child” is to remain a viable standard in Florida child custody proceedings, it would seem incumbent upon the trial judge to have taken testimony to determine what in fact were the best interests of the child. However, because those interests can still be determined in Illinois, the child’s home state now, and because we are sitting in an appellate capacity, I cannot say the trial judge below abused his discretion by deciding the question upon the pleadings and supporting affidavits.
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Holland v. Anheuser Busch, Inc., 643 So. 2d 621 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994)…to dismiss supported by affidavit, has the authority to decide ultimate issues of fact relating to jurisdiction over the person, Venetian Salami Co. v. Parthenais, 554 So. 2d 499 (Fla.1989); jurisdiction over the subject matter, Barnes v. Ostrander, 450 So. 2d 1253 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984); venue, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. National Bank of Melbourne and Trust Co., 238 So. 2d 665 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970); and sufficiency of service of process, Viking Superior Corp. v. W.T. Grant Co., 212 So. 2d 331 (F…
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Seminole Tribe OF Florida v. McCOR, 903 So. 2d 353 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005)…otion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction). In considering a motion to dismiss challenging subject matter jurisdiction, a trial court may properly go beyond the four corners of the complaint and consider affidavits. See Barnes v. Ostrander, 450 So. 2d 1253, 1254 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984) (“Speaking motions with supporting affidavits may be filed in order to attack jurisdiction over the subject matter”); see also Holland v. Anheuser Busch, Inc., 643 So. 2d 621, 623 n. 2 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994) (citing Banes and re…
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Mancher v. Seminole Tribe OF Fla., Inc., 708 So. 2d 327 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)…rant Co., 212 So. 2d 331 (Fla. 1st DCA 1968); forum non conveniens, Ciba-Geigy Ltd. v. Fish Peddler, Inc., 691 So. 2d 1111, 1121 (Fla. 4th DCA), rev. denied, 699 So. 2d 1372 (Fla.1997); and, finally, subject matter jurisdiction, Barnes v. Ostrander, 450 So. 2d 1253 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984) (involving § 61.1318(2), Fla. Stat. (1983), designed to discourage forum shopping where there is a child custody decree of another state). Here, the motion to dismiss contends that the improper party was sued and that Seminole Tri…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Mondy v. Mondy, 428 So. 2d 235 (Fla. 1983)