Brandt v. Brandt
Supreme Court of Colorado
268 P.3d 406 (Colo. 2012)
George (plaintiff) and Christine Brandt (defendant) divorced in Maryland, which issued the initial custody order giving Christine primary physical custody; both were later relocated by the Army, with George to Colorado and Christine (deployed to Iraq) required to serve in Texas, though she kept her Maryland home, license, and taxes throughout. While Christine was deployed, C.B. lived with George in Colorado, and George petitioned Colorado to register the Maryland order and assume modification jurisdiction, which the Colorado trial court granted, reasoning no party currently lived in Maryland. Christine, ordered back to Maryland by the Army, returned there with C.B. and appealed; George then obtained Colorado writs of habeas corpus returning C.B. to him, and a judicial teleconference between the Maryland and Colorado courts failed to resolve which state had jurisdiction, prompting Colorado Supreme Court review.
Whether, under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, the state that entered the initial child-custody order retains exclusive, continuing jurisdiction to modify that order until the issuing state finds no remaining connection to the child, or another state finds the child and parents no longer presently reside there.