subject: North Carolina Divorce Custody Remarriage Child Custody Minor Continuing Jurisdiction Lawyers Attorneys [print this page] JUDITH ANN LATHAM v. JAMES RAYMOND LATHAM
COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA
The parties were divorced and remarried. When they separated a second time, the mother filed a motion in the trial court that heard the first divorce proceeding for custody of the parties' minor child. The trial court dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
Appellant mother sought review of the judgment of the District Court, Mecklenburg County (North Carolina), which dismissed her motion seeking custody and support of the parties' minor child for lack of jurisdiction because she had remarried appellee father.
ISSUES:
Whether the remarriage of the parties to each other terminated the jurisdiction of the court that granted the divorce to adjudicate the custody and support of the minor child born to the parties prior to divorce.
DISCUSSION:
A divorce action is pending for purposes of determining custody and support until the death of one of the parties or until the youngest child born of the marriage reaches maturity, whichever event occurs first. The remarriage of the parties to each other does not divest the court of its continuing jurisdiction over the minor child acquired in the action for divorce. In divorce actions the court in which the action is brought acquires jurisdiction over the custody of the unemancipated children of the parties, and the jurisdiction continues even after divorce.'The marital status of parents is not . . . a factor in determining the procedureto obtain custody of a child. Once jurisdiction of a court attaches it exists for all time until the cause is fully and completely determined. In actions for custody and support only majority of the child or death of a party fully and completely determines the cause.The choice of a motion in the cause in the prior divorce proceeding, in which the court already has personal jurisdiction over the party from whom relief is sought, should remain available even following the subsequent remarriage of the parties to each other.Since it does not appear that either party has died or that the child has reached maturity, the court has jurisdiction to hear plaintiff's motion in the cause seeking custody and support of the parties' minor child.
JUDGMENT:
The order dismissing the motion for lack of jurisdiction was reversed, and the cause was remanded for further proceedings on plaintiff's motion.
Disclaimer:
These summaries are provided by the SRIS Law Group. They represent the firm's unofficial views of the Justices' opinions. The original opinions should be consulted for their authoritative content
North Carolina Divorce Custody Remarriage Child Custody Minor Continuing Jurisdiction Lawyers Attorneys
By: Atchuthan Sriskandarajah
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