Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

Notes
UCCJEA and Domestic Violence: A Case Study 129
1. Domestic Relations Law § 75.
2. See Hector G. v Josefina P., 2 Misc 3d 801 (Sup Ct, Bronx County, 2003).
3. See 42 USC § 11601 et seq.
4. Domestic Relations Law § 75-d(2).
5. See Sobie, Practice Commentaries, McKinney’s Domestic Relations Law
of New York, Book 14, DRL § 75-d at 48.
6. See Hoff, The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act,
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency at 4 (US Dept of Justice, Dec.
2001); see also UCCJEA Prefatory Notes and Comments, National
Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) at 3-30,
1997.
7. Domestic Relations Law § 75-a(7).
8. Domestic Relations Law § 76, “Initial child custody jurisdiction.”
9. Domestic Relations Law § 76-b, “Jurisdiction to modify determination.”
10. Id.
11. Domestic Relations Law § 76-a(1)-(2), “Exclusive, continuing
jurisdiction.”
The most effective way to ensure that a foreign state will exercise comity
with respect to a client’s custody order is to register that decree pursuant to
the UCCJEA. DRL § 77-d; see also DRL § 75-e. Thus if your client has a
custody order from a New York court but must send her child for courtordered
visitation in, for example, Ohio, she should register her custody
decree in Ohio. Once properly registered, a foreign decree is treated as the
equivalent of a decree of both states and, once registered, any further
contest to the decree is precluded. DRL § 77-d. Even where an order has
been registered, however, a new proceeding relating to domestic violence
— about which the court must be notified — can affect an existing order.
DRL § 77-g(2)(c).
See http://www.courts.state.ny.us/forms/familycourt/uccjea.shtml for forms.
12. Domestic Relations Law § 76-c.
13. Domestic Relations Law § 76-c(3).