Ex parte Siderius
Supreme Court of Alabama
144 So.3d 319 (Ala. 2013)
Kenneth Fordham (plaintiff) and Caroline Siderius (defendant) married in Alabama and had two children, then moved to Spokane, Washington, where the marriage broke down. Fordham moved back to Mobile, Alabama, and the parents agreed the children could visit Mobile for a few weeks before the new school year. Instead, Fordham transferred the children's school registration to Mobile and filed for divorce and custody in Alabama, obtaining emergency custody. Siderius filed her own custody petition in Spokane, where the court found it had jurisdiction because the children had lived in Washington for 17 months before the Alabama filing. The Mobile court asserted jurisdiction based on Siderius's contacts with Alabama, and Siderius sought a writ of mandamus after the Alabama Court of Appeals denied her relief.
Whether a child's temporary absence from the home state, such as a visitation or vacation, interrupts the six-month pre-complaint residency period required to establish home-state jurisdiction under the UCCJEA.