{"id":3006,"date":"2025-05-05T19:52:46","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T00:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/?p=3006"},"modified":"2025-05-08T10:48:41","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T15:48:41","slug":"texas-not-home-state-of-child-whose-mother-moved-to-illinois-during-pregnancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-not-home-state-of-child-whose-mother-moved-to-illinois-during-pregnancy\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Not &#8220;Home State&#8221; of Child Whose Mother Moved to Illinois During Pregnancy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Texas has adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (\u201cUCCJEA\u201d), which identifies what state has jurisdiction over custody matters. The UCCJEA generally prioritizes the child\u2019s home state for jurisdiction.\u00a0 \u00a0The child\u2019s home state is where they have lived with a parent for the six months before the custody proceeding commenced, or if they are less than six months old, where they have lived with a parent since birth.<\/p>\n<p>For a Texas court to have jurisdiction to make an initial child custody determination, Texas must be the child\u2019s home state on the date the proceeding commenced or must have been the child\u2019s home state within six months before the proceeding commenced if the child is absent from Texas but a parent or person acting as a parent still lives in Texas.\u00a0 Tex. Fam. Code \u00a7 152.201(a)(1). Texas may also have jurisdiction if another state court does not have jurisdiction or if child\u2019s home state court declined jurisdiction because Texas was a more appropriate forum and the child and the parents, or the child and at least one parent or on person acting as a parent, have a significant connection with Texas and there is substantial evidence in Texas regarding the child. Tex. Fam. Code \u00a7 152.201(a)(2). A Texas court may also have jurisdiction if all courts having jurisdiction on the grounds above have declined to exercise it because a Texas court is a more appropriate forum. Tex. Fam. Code \u00a7 152.201(a)(3). Furthermore, Texas may have jurisdiction when no other court or any state would have jurisdiction based on the above criteria.\u00a0 Tex. Fam. Code \u00a7 152.201(a)(4).<\/p>\n<p>A mother recently <a href=\"https:\/\/cases.justia.com\/texas\/second-court-of-appeals\/2025-02-25-00100-cv.pdf?ts=1746275906\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">challenged<\/a> a Texas court\u2019s jurisdiction over her child\u2019s custody.\u00a0 According to the appeals court\u2019s opinion, the parties separated while the mother was pregnant and she moved to Chicago before the child was born.\u00a0 \u00a0The mother filed for divorce in Illinois and the father filed for divorce in Texas.\u00a0 The mother\u2019s petition did not include an issue related to the custody of the unborn child, but the father\u2019s petition did.\u00a0 The child was born in in Illinois after both petitions had been filed.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-not-home-state-of-child-whose-mother-moved-to-illinois-during-pregnancy\/#more-3006\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas has adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (\u201cUCCJEA\u201d), which identifies what state has jurisdiction over custody matters. The UCCJEA generally prioritizes the child\u2019s home state for jurisdiction.\u00a0 \u00a0The child\u2019s home state is where they have lived with a parent for the six months before the custody proceeding commenced, or if they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,4,90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-child-custody","category-divorce","category-jurisdiction"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Texas Not &quot;Home State&quot; of Child Whose Mother Moved to Illinois During Pregnancy &#8212; Texas Divorce Attorney Blog &#8212; May 5, 2025<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Texas has adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (\u201cUCCJEA\u201d), which identifies what state has jurisdiction over custody &#8212; May 5, 2025\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-not-home-state-of-child-whose-mother-moved-to-illinois-during-pregnancy\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Texas Not &quot;Home State&quot; of Child Whose Mother Moved to Illinois During Pregnancy &#8212; Texas Divorce Attorney Blog &#8212; May 5, 2025\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Texas has adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (\u201cUCCJEA\u201d), which identifies what state has jurisdiction over custody &#8212; May 5, 2025\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Francesca Blackard\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Texas Not \"Home State\" of Child Whose Mother Moved to Illinois During Pregnancy &#8212; 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