VICTORIA DEBOWE BELLOW, APPELLANT,
v.
AUDREY T. BELLOW AND KIM M. BELLOW, APPELLEES
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Victoria DeBowe Bellow appealed a trial court order enforcing a Louisiana decree granting her deceased husband's mother and sister visitation rights with her minor children. The appellate court affirmed, holding that the Louisiana decree was entitled to full faith and credit under the U.S. Constitution and that Florida's privacy rights provisions do not override enforcement of sister-state custody judgments.
The Louisiana decree was properly entitled to full faith and credit and enforcement. A foreign judgment is not rendered unenforceable merely because it may violate a public policy or privacy rights of the forum state, and no jurisdictional defects were raised in the record.
[1] A foreign judgment is entitled to full faith and credit and is not rendered unenforceable merely because it may violate a public policy of the forum state.
[2] A decree of another state is entitled to recognition and enforcement under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act if it was made under factual circumstances meeting t…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“A foreign judgment is not rendered unenforceable because it may violate a public policy of the forum state.”
Establishes the principle that a sister state's judgment must be enforced despite conflicting public policy in the forum state
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAudrey T. Bellow (the appellant's mother-in-law) and Kim M. Bellow (the appellant's sister-in-law) sought to enforce and domesticate a Louisiana decre…
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PETERSON, J.
The appellees, Audrey T. Bellow and Kim M. Bellow, the mother and sister, respectively, of the appellant’s deceased husband, initiated this action in the trial court to enforce and domesticate a Louisiana decree awarding them visitation privileges with Victoria Debowe Bellow’s minor children. The trial court correctly ruled that the Louisiana decree was entitled to full faith and credit.
The appellant argues that the trial court erred by giving full faith and credit to the Louisiana decree because the decree impermissibly infringes on privacy rights afforded to her by the Florida Constitution, Art. 1, § 23, Fla. Const.; see Von Eiff v. Azicri, 720 So. 2d 510 (Fla.1998), Fitts v. Poe, 699 So. 2d 348 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997). We have found no reason for invalidating the trial court’s recognition of the Louisiana judgment pursuant to the full faith and credit clause of the United States Constitution,1 and reject the appellant’s argument that this judgment of a sister state violates her privacy rights under the guise that it violates the broad scope of Article 1, Section 23 of the Florida Constitution. A foreign judgment is not rendered unenforceable because it may violate a public policy of the forum state. See M & R Investments Co. v. Hacker, 511 So. 2d 1099 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987)
We cannot locate in the record any challenges to the Louisiana court’s jurisdiction over the matter when the action for visitation was filed in that state. In this Florida action to domesticate and enforce the Louisiana decree, the record is also free of any assertion that the Louisiana court did not comply with the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, sections 61.1302-61.1348, Florida Statutes (1997) (“UCCJA”), an act adopted by every state. Under the UC-CJA, a decree of another state is entitled to recognition if it was made “under factual circumstances meeting the jurisdictional standards of the [UCCJA].” § 61.1328. Importantly, the general purpose of the UC-CJA is to “facilitate the enforcement of custody decrees of other states.” § 61.1304(7). We find that the trial court properly concluded that the Louisiana judgment was entitled to recognition and enforcement.
Accordingly, we affirm the order of the trial court.
AFFIRMED.
GRIFFIN and THOMPSON, JJ., concur. . Art. IV, § 1, U.S. Const.
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Shingel v. Peters, 867 So. 2d 1281 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004)…great-grandmother of two children, were given rights of visitation with the children, who now reside in this state with their mother and father. Appellants acknowledge that our decision today is controlled by our prior decision in Bellow v. Bellow, 736 So. 2d 759 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999), but urge that we recede from Bellow in light of the Fourth District’s decision in M.S. v. D.C., 763 So. 2d 1051 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999). We decline Appellant’s request that we recede from Bellow but certify conflict with M.S. v. D.C…
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Ledoux-Nottingham v. Downs, 163 So. 3d 560 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015)…these relationships. This concept implicates the very core of our constitutional freedoms and embodies the essence of Florida’s constitutional right of privacy.”). This court has twice rejected a similar public policy argument. In Bellow v. Bellow, 736 So. 2d 759 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999), the mother and sister of the ex-wife’s deceased husband initiated an action in the trial court to enforce and domesticate a Louisiana decree that awarded them visitation privileges with the minor children. 736 So. 2d at 760. In…
Authorities Cited
- von Eiff v. Leonor Azicri and Roberto Azicri, 720 So. 2d 510 (Fla. 1998)
- M & R Invs. v. Hacker, 511 So. 2d 1099 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987)
- Jere Fitts and Jane Fitts v. POE, 699 So. 2d 348 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997)