M.E.V. v. R.D.V.

57 A.3d 126, 2012 Pa. Super. 233, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3447
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 23, 2012
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 57 A.3d 126 (M.E.V. v. R.D.V.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
M.E.V. v. R.D.V., 57 A.3d 126, 2012 Pa. Super. 233, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3447 (Pa. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION BY

STRASSBURGER, J.:

R.D.V. (Father) appeals from the order overruling his preliminary objections to a complaint for custody of the parties’ two children filed by M.E.V. (Mother). Upon review, we reverse.

The following facts are gleaned from the testimony presented at the hearing on Father’s preliminary objections. Father and Mother began living together in Father’s hometown of Logan Township, New Jersey in 2003, and they were married on September 24, 2005. They had two children together, born in 2007 and 2010. On May 15, 2011, Mother found out that Father had been having an affair with anoth[128]*128er woman. On June 2, 2011, Mother moved with the children to Erie, Pennsylvania, her hometown where she had a family support system. Mother testified that she was “devastated, blind-sided, [and] very distraught” upon finding out about Father’s affair. N.T., 3/20/2012, at 49. Mother also testified that Father did not initially agree to Mother moving to Erie with the children, but shortly thereafter, the two reached an agreement. Wife testified that it was her understanding that she and Father “will have to reevaluate at six months what [they were] going to do” after the move. Id. at 38. In November 2011, approximately five months later, Mother told Father that she “was never going to come back to New Jersey.” Id. On November 30, 2011, Father filed a complaint for divorce in the New Jersey courts. That complaint averred, inter alia, that New Jersey is the children’s home state and that the children should be returned to New Jersey where the parties could exercise joint legal custody and Father would be named parent of primary residence. Mother was served with a copy of this complaint on December 28, 2011.

On January 13, 2012, Mother filed a complaint for custody in the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County, Pennsylvania. On February 6, 2012, Father filed preliminary objections to the complaint for custody asserting that a prior custody action had been filed by him in New Jersey, of which Mother was aware, and therefore, as a matter of law, venue was improper in Erie County.

On March 20, 2012, the trial court in Erie held a hearing on this matter. On March 21, 2012, the trial court overruled Father’s preliminary objections. Father then requested the trial court amend its order to allow an interlocutory appeal by permission pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1311(b) and 42 Pa.C.S. § 702(b)1 because the matter raises a substantial issue of jurisdiction. On April 16, 2012, the trial court amended its order with the prescribed language and Father filed a timely petition for permission to appeal to this Court. On June 14, 2012, this Court denied the petition as moot, concluding that the order was immediately appealable as of right pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 311(b)(2). Father filed a concise statement of matters complained of on appeal and the trial court issued an opinion.

On appeal, Father raises the following issues:

A. Whether the court erred in concluding Pennsylvania was the children’s “home state” under the UCCJEA when the facts of record conclusively demonstrate [Mother’s] move to Pennsylvania was only temporary?
B. Whether the court’s exclusion of a mediation report arising out of the state of New Jersey on grounds of confidentiality was in error?
C. Whether the [trial] court erred when it overruled [Father’s] objection to a line of questioning involving allegations of marital infidelity constitutes an abuse of discretion? [sic ]

Father’s Brief at 4.

Before we consider Father’s issues on appeal, we are obliged to consider the [129]*129subject matter jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania courts pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), 23 Pa.C.S. §§ 5401-5482. In other words, we consider whether Pennsylvania had jurisdiction to determine the issue of whether it had jurisdiction. We recognize that neither Father nor the trial court specifically addressed the issue of subject matter jurisdiction. However, “[i]t is well-settled that the question of subject matter jurisdiction may be raised at any time, by any party, or by the court sua sponte.” B.J.D. v. D.L.C., 19 A.3d 1081, 1082 (Pa.Super.2011).

In addressing this issue, we are guided by the following standard of review:

A court’s decision to exercise or decline jurisdiction is subject to an abuse of discretion standard of review and will not be disturbed absent an abuse of that discretion. Under Pennsylvania law, an abuse of discretion occurs when the court has overridden or misapplied the law, when its judgment is manifestly unreasonable, or when there is insufficient evidence of record to support the court’s findings. An abuse of discretion requires clear and convincing evidence that the trial court misapplied the law or failed to follow proper legal procedures.

Wagner v. Wagner, 887 A.2d 282, 285 (Pa.Super.2005) (quoting Lucas v. Lucas, 882 A.2d 523, 527 (Pa.Super.2005) (citation omitted)).

We must also keep in mind the purposes behind the promulgation of the UCCJEA, also recognizing that although the UC-CJEA replaced the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA) in 2004, much of the ease law as decided under the UCCJA is still applicable. For this analysis, we consider this Court’s decision in Harcar v. Harcar, 982 A.2d 1230, 1237-38 (Pa.Super.2009), which cited with approval our language in Goodman v. Goodman, 383 Pa.Super. 374, 556 A.2d 1379 (1989), which was decided under the UCCJA.

The manifold purposes of the UCCJA ... include avoidance of jurisdictional conflicts; promotion of cooperation between “interested” jurisdictions; assurance of custody litigation in the forum having the greatest nexus with the case; and deterrence of abductions.
* * *
The Court in Goodman continued to set forth the situations in which a court may properly decline to exercise jurisdiction. In the first situation, the trial court must abstain from exercising jurisdiction because another forum has jurisdictional priority. This is known as the “first in time rule,” as expressed in 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5347 (now 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 5426), and is mandatory. Goodman, 556 A.2d at 1387. The other section, set forth at 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5348 (now 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 5427), is a permissive declination provision. The Court in Goodman stated:
An action is pending from its commencement to its final determination on appeal, or until the time for appeal has expired. Because “ ‘the policy against simultaneous custody proceedings is so strong’ ... courts should refrain from exercising jurisdiction to further the purposes of the Act.”

Harcar v. Harcar, 982 A.2d 1230, 1237-38 (Pa.Super.2009) (some citations omitted; emphasis added). In other words, a trial court MUST not exercise jurisdiction when another state has jurisdiction priority.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 A.3d 126, 2012 Pa. Super. 233, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3447, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mev-v-rdv-pasuperct-2012.