Free tool · Family Law
Which State Decides Child Custody?
Under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, adopted in almost every state, the state that may make the first custody order is the child’s home state: where the child lived with a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the case was filed (or since birth, for a baby under six months). If the child has just moved, the old state keeps jurisdiction for six months if a parent still lives there. Only if there is no home state can a state with a significant connection act, and any state can act temporarily in an emergency. Enter the facts to see which state has priority.
Tool · Custody Jurisdiction Finder (UCCJEA)
State B has priority as the extended home state, and the filing state cannot act except in an emergency.
- The child has been in the filing state for only 3 months, short of the six needed to make it the home state.
- The child lived with a parent in State B for 40 months before leaving 3 months ago, and a parent still lives there: State B was the home state within six months before filing (extended home state jurisdiction).
- The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), adopted in almost every state, decides which state may make the first custody order, and requires other states to enforce it. It is about subject-matter jurisdiction: it cannot be waived, and personal jurisdiction over the parents is not needed.
- Where two states are both involved, the courts are expected to talk to each other. A court that has jurisdiction may decline if another state is a more convenient forum, and a court that acquired jurisdiction by unjustifiable conduct (such as wrongfully taking the child) may decline it.
Decides which state may make the first custody order for a child under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act: the home state (where the child lived with a parent for the six months before filing), the extended home state, significant connection, emergency jurisdiction, or a state that already has a continuing order. Almost every state has adopted the Act. Invented facts; simplified rules. A teaching aid, not a prediction and not legal advice. Runs in your browser; nothing is stored or sent.
How to use it
- Say where the case is filed, and how long the child has lived there with a parent.
- Enter how long the child lived in the other state before, and how long ago they left.
- Say whether a parent still lives in the other state, and whether any state already has an order.
- Read the state with priority and why.
Common questions
What is a child’s home state?
The state where the child lived with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the case began. Temporary absences count as time in the state.
Can a parent get custody jurisdiction by moving the child?
Not quickly. A parent who moves with the child cannot create a new home state until the child has lived there for six months, and a court may decline jurisdiction obtained by unjustifiable conduct.
Does the court need personal jurisdiction over the parents?
No. UCCJEA jurisdiction is about the child’s home state, not about personal jurisdiction over the parents.
Learn the law behind the tool
This tool is part of our Family Law course, with lectures, concept maps, flashcards, interactive exercises and a capstone case. Family Law: Custody and Support.
More free law tools
General information, simplified, mainly on American law, not legal advice. States and countries differ, and real cases turn on facts that a tool cannot capture.