PHYLLIS C. MCLEOD WARD, PETITIONER,
v.
HONORABLE CLYDE B. WELLS, CIRCUIT JUDGE OF THE FIRST JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR WALTON COUNTY, FLORIDA, RESPONDENT
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A circuit court lacks jurisdiction to modify a child custody and visitation judgment entered by another circuit court in a different county, absent statutory authority under dependency or delinquency provisions.
The Circuit Court of Walton County lacks jurisdiction to modify a final child custody and visitation judgment previously entered by the Circuit Court of Escambia County.
[1] A circuit court in one county lacks jurisdiction to modify a final child custody judgment entered by a circuit court in another county, except as provided by statute for…
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PER CURIAM.
George A. McLeod, petitioner below, filed in the Circuit Court of Walton County, Florida, a petition for modification of the child custody and child visitation rights provided for in a final judgment of divorce previously entered by the Circuit Court of Escambia County, Florida. Phyllis C. McLeod Ward, respondent below, (petitioner here) filed a motion to dismiss on the ground that the jurisdiction over such modification is in the Circuit Court of Escambia County by virtue of the previous final judgment entered by that court and that the Circuit Court of Walton County is without jurisdiction. The motion to dismiss was denied and the petition for modification was set for hearing. Suggestion for writ of prohibition was filed in this court, and we issued rule nisi.
We have considered the brief of petitioner, the return and brief of respondent and the oral arguments of the attorneys for the respective parties. Under the law as pronounced by this court in Jones v. State ex rel. Greathouse, Fla.App. (1st) 241 So. 2d 432, the Circuit Court of Walton County is without jurisdiction to modify the final judgment of the Circuit Court of Escambia County as to child custody and visitation. See also Poliak v. Poliak, Fla.App. (2d) 235 So. 2d 512, and Haley v. Edwards, Fla.App. (4th) 233 So. 2d 647.
By this ruling, we do not mean to infer that the circuit court of any county in which a child may be located would not have jurisdiction to adjudicate questions of dependency and delinquency under Chapter 39, Florida Statutes.
Rule absolute in prohibition be and it is hereby issued.
RAWLS, C. J., concurs.
BOYER, J., specially concurs.
BOYER, Judge
(concurring specially).
It has been said that it is more important that the law be certain than just. It is only in the interest of certainty that I concur with the result reached here. The several cases by eminent jurists writing for the several District Courts of Appeal cited in the opinion by my colleagues do appear to sustain the conclusion reached on the basis stated in the opinion. However, I do not see the issues as involving jurisdiction. Although often confused, jurisdiction and venue are entirely different (See Ringling Brothers v. State of Florida, Fla.App.1st 1974, 295 So. 2d 314.) Were we not bound by the doctrine of Stare Decisis (which is the only manner in which certainty may be maintained in the law), I would urge that the venue statutes be applied in the case sub judice and other like cases; which would, in my opinion, result in a more equitable resolution of the problem. Further, in considering the factually similar cases cited in the above opinion, I think it pertinent to suggest that there is a distinction between the remedies of habeas corpus and modification of an existing final judgment in a domestic relations case.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Hegler v. Hegler, 383 So. 2d 1134 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980)…this or any future petition.6 REVERSED and REMANDED. DAUKSCH, C. J., and COBB, J., concur. . Smith v. Smith (Fla. 2d DCA 1980) (Case No. 78-1906. Opinion filed March 26, 1980); Elliott v. Weyman, 337 So. 2d 832 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976); Ward v. Wells, 298 So. 2d 493 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974). “Decrees pertaining to the welfare of the children are, in a sense, interlocutory and because of this they may be modified, from time to time, as the welfare of the children requires.” Butler v. Butler, 132 So. 2d 437 (Fla. 3d D…
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Williams v. The Honorable Hugh E. Starnes, 522 So. 2d 469 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988)…a question of subject matter jurisdiction, not one of personal jurisdiction or even of venue. See Wells v. Ward, 314 So. 2d 138 (Fla.1975); Rhoades v. Bohn, 114 So. 2d 493 (Fla. 1st DCA 1959), aff'd, 121 So. 2d 777 (Fla.1960). But see Wells v. Ward, 298 So. 2d 493, 494 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974) (Boyer, J., specially concurring) (proper forum in which to determine child custody in intrastate disputes should be decided on basis of venue statutes). Thus, the trial judge erred in determining that because the parties ha…
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Elliott v. Weyman, 337 So. 2d 832 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976)…s the order of dismissal. The dismissal of Count 3 was correct. Sole jurisdiction to change custody of the children remained in the Circuit Court of Broward County. Jones v. State ex rel. Greathouse, 241 So. 2d 432 (Fla. 1 DCA 1970); Ward v. Wells, 298 So. 2d 493 (Fla. 1 DCA 1974); Wells, In and For Walton County v. Ward, 314 So. 2d 138 (Fla.1975). The court below did not err in dismissing Count 2. Section 61.20, Florida Statutes (1975), provide's in part: “In any action where the custody of a minor child i…1 / 2
Authorities Cited
- Ringling BROS.-BARNUM & Bailey Combined Shows, Inc. v. State, 295 So. 2d 314 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974)
- Haley v. Hon. Claude R. Edwards, 233 So. 2d 647 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970)
- Poliak v. Poliak, 235 So. 2d 512 (Fla. 2d DCA 1970)
- Hooks v. Louie L. Wainwright, 241 So. 2d 432 (Fla. 2d DCA 1970)