Interstate Custody Issues in Iowa

For years, when there was no uniformity in state custody laws, there were parents who would move children to new states in the midst of divorce in an attempt to obtain custody orders in their favor. It was difficult for one state’s courts to apply another state’s law or to know when its own custody laws would apply with interstate custody disputes. The lack of a coherent system caused uncertainty and difficulty when dealing with interstate custody issues, and children often paid the price.

Now, every state and the District of Columbia has enacted a uniform law (the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act UCCJEA) that sets standards for determining when a given state’s courts can make custody determinations and when a state must defer to existing determinations from another state.

Under this law, Iowa courts can make a custody decision about a child if:

• Iowa is the child's home state (the child has lived in Iowa for the previous six months, or was residing in Iowa, but is absent because a parent removed the child from, or retained the child outside of Iowa);
• There are significant connections with people like teachers, doctors, and grandparents, and substantial evidence in the state concerning the child's care, protection, training, and personal relationships;
• The child is in Iowa and has been either abandoned or is in danger of being abused or neglected if sent back to the other state; or
• No other state can meet one of the above three tests, or a state can meet at least one of the tests but has declined to make a custody decision.

If a state cannot meet one of these tests, even if the child is present in the state, the courts of that state cannot make a custody award. Also, a parent who has wrongfully removed or retained a child in order to create a home state or significant connections will be denied custody. In the event more than one state meets the above standards, the law requires that only one state award custody. This means that once the first state makes a custody award, another state can neither make another "initial" award nor modify the existing order.

Having the same law in all states helps achieve consistency in the treatment of custody decrees. It also helps solve many of the problems created by kidnapping or disagreements over custody between parents living in different states.

Example: Sam and Diane met and married in Missouri. They moved to Iowa where their child (Sam Jr.) was born. Sam, Diane and Junior lived in Iowa until Junior was ten. At that time, Sam took Junior to Missouri in an effort to divorce Diane and raise Junior himself. When Sam went to court in Missouri and requested custody, his request was denied because Iowa is Junior's home state, the state with which he has significant connections, and Sam removed Junior from Iowa in an effort to create home state jurisdiction in Missouri. Diane should go to court in Iowa and request custody, even though Junior is in Missouri.