Legal Question in Family Law in Maine

Re: Custody/ Jurisdiction

I believe that if you confirm with the Mass. court, you will find that the Court has already contacted the appropriate entity in Maine to ascertain whether or not Maine will accept jurisdiction. If that is the case, then there is nothing more for you to do. However, if for some reason the burden is being put onto you to contact the appropriate Maine court, you will need to be proactive and to move the matter forward. It would be prudent for you to contact the Mass court clerk directly to ascertain whether or not you are required to take any further action. The response to that question will dictate the next step.

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Re: Custody/ Jurisdiction

The Massachusetts judge appears to have ruled that proper jurisdiction was not obtained over long-term issues of the child's care, custody, and well-being. Thus, unless Maine REFUSES to exercise its jurisdiction, Massachusetts cannot and will not exercise it. The time spent in Massachusetts did not effect a change of residence for jurisdictional purposes.

Your reading fails to understand that the Maine courts did not lose long-term jurisdiction by virtue of the exercise of emergency authority in Massachusetts. Living in Mass. under the emergency order does not change that. Otherwise, anyone willing to lie to obtain a restraining order would be able to change essential jurisdiction, violating Federal law, Massachusetts law, and the law of most other states.

Interstate child custody jurisdiction law involves a fine dance of multiple statutes: there are TWO "uniform" state laws (and states often change bits and pieces of these statutes when adopting them), and an overriding Federal law. The overall effect of these statutes is to forbid interstate custody-by-kidnapping-and-trickery-and-fraud-on-the-courts.