Major Change in Texas Law in Regards to
Custody Cases Where the Child Resides Out of State
Effective September 1, 1999,
Texas NO LONGER automatically gives custody jurisdiction to
ANOTHER STATE when the child has been RESIDING in THAT STATE for
MORE THAN SIX MONTHS.
This is a MAJOR CHANGE; the
previous law (the Texas version of the UCCJA) FORCED Texas to
GIVE UP custody jurisdiction after the CHILD had been OUT OF
TEXAS for 6 MONTHS.
Texas has replaced the UCCJA
with the UCCJEA (Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and
Enforcement Act) that DELETES the 6 month language in the
previous law. The new law is §152.001 et seq. of the
Texas Family Code. It means that Texas can retain jurisdiction so long as
one parent remains in Texas, although Texas can certainly release its
jurisdiction to another state.
Also see the article on
Relocation Cases.
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