EVA KALUSIN, APPELLANT,
v.
GIL SCHWADRON, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1997-05-28
No. 95-2661
Before LEVY and GREEN, JJ., and BARKDULL, Senior Judge.
695 So. 2d 817 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1997) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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Synopsis

A Florida mother sought to modify a visitation order issued by a Maryland court regarding her minor child and the child's relationship with the mother's former boyfriend. The Florida trial court ruled it lacked jurisdiction to modify the out-of-state order, and the appellate court affirmed, holding that the Full Faith and Credit Clause and Florida's Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act prohibited Florida courts from modifying Maryland's reserved custody order.


Holding

Florida courts lack the authority and jurisdiction to modify or alter the Maryland court's order. The appellant must seek modification in the Maryland court where the order was entered and where jurisdiction was reserved.


Headnotes

[1] Florida courts lack jurisdiction to modify a child visitation order entered by a Maryland court that expressly reserved jurisdiction over the matter.

[2] The Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution requires Florida courts to give effect to valid judgments of other states.

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Key Quotes

“we are required, by both the United States Constitution and the law of Florida, to hold that the Courts of this State are prohibited from modifying the order entered by the Maryland court”

Establishes the core holding that Florida courts lack jurisdictional authority to modify out-of-state custody orders

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Facts & Procedural History

The appellant, a mother of a minor child, lived in Maryland with her child and the appellee, a former boyfriend who also resided with them. A Maryland…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

PER CURIAM.

The opinion previously filed in this cause on November 13,1996, is withdrawn and this opinion is submitted in its stead.

The appellant herein, who is the mother of a minor child, filed an action in Circuit Court in Dade County, Florida, seeking to have the Dade County trial judge modify an Order entered by a Circuit Court Judge in Montgomery County, Maryland. The Maryland Judge’s Order found that it was in the best interest of appellant’s minor child to maintain close contact with the appellee herein, who is the former boyfriend of the appellant and who had lived with the appellant and her minor child in Maryland for a period of time. The Dade County trial judge ruled that the Florida Courts lack the authority and jurisdiction to entertain the motion to modify the Maryland Court’s Order, in essence holding that appellant was free to seek to modify the Order of the Maryland Judge, but that such a motion to modify would have to be filed and heard in the Maryland Court.

Naturally, neither the Dade County trial judge, nor the Judges of this Court, have had the benefit of the testimony received by the Maryland Judge that caused that Court to enter the visitation order that appellant now seeks to modify. Accordingly, it is difficult for us to envision what evidence or set of circumstances would lead to the entry of the visitation order that the appellant wishes to modify. It is clear that both Florida law and Florida public policy strongly favor the concept that the parents of young minor children should have the sole authority and responsibility for determining with whom those minor children visit and associate with. The Maryland Order appears to be at odds with that concept.

Despite the foregoing, we find ourselves in the unenviable position, as, apparently, did the Dade County trial judge, in realizing that we are required, by both the United States Constitution and the law of Florida, to hold that the Courts of this State are prohibited from modifying the order entered by the Maryland court.

First, in entering the order of visitation, and thereafter specifically allowing the appellant to move from Maryland to Florida, the Maryland trial judge specifically reserved jurisdiction over this matter, which in turn, specifically included the visitation provisions that the appellant now wishes to modify.

Furthermore, article IV, section 1 of the United States Constitution requires that the Courts of Florida give “full faith and credit” to the judgments of the Courts of other States in the United States. See 28 U.S.C. § 1738A. In addition, the provisions of Sections 61.1302, et seq. of the Florida Statutes, 1995, which is known as the “Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act,” specifically and unequivocally prohibits the Courts of this State from modifying or altering the type of Order entered by the Maryland Court and which the appellant herein seeks to modify.

Although we are constitutionally obligated to affirm the Dade County Judge’s Order, which held that the Florida Courts lack the authority or jurisdiction to modify or alter the Maryland Judge’s Order, the net effect of that legally correct ruling by the Dade County Judge does not deprive the appellant of an opportunity to modify the Maryland Order. It only means that the appellant must seek to modify the order in a Maryland Court. Nothing herein affects, in any way, her right to do that.

Affirmed.


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Citator

Cited By

  • M.S. v. D.C., Jr., 763 So. 2d 1051 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)
    …the application of an overriding provision of our law, applying a paramount public policy. See generally, Morris v. Kridel, 179 So. 2d 130 (Fla. 2d DCA 1965); Krasnosky v. Krasnosky, 282 So. 2d 186 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973). But see Kalusin v. Schwadron, 695 So. 2d 817 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997). As our supreme court has recognized, few policies in the state are more paramount than enforcement of an exercise of a recognized constitutional right to privacy. Cf. Von Eiff. In this record, there is no evidence of abuse or ne…
  • Lawlor v. Rasmussen, 745 So. 2d 561 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999)
    …Yurgel, we find that appel-lee should have filed her modification petition in the CCP since that is the court which acquired initial jurisdiction and has assumed continuing jurisdiction of the custody and visitation issues. See Kalusin v. Schwadron, 695 So. 2d 817, 818 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997) (UCCJA “specifically and unequivocally prohibits the Courts of this State from modifying or altering the type of Order [visitation] entered by the Maryland Court and which the appellant herein seeks to modify”); Snider (same)…

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