LD 986
pg. 17
Page 16 of 77 An Act To Enact the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act Amendments of 1996 an... Page 18 of 77
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LR 467
Item 1

 
facilitated and combined with a broad assertion of personal
jurisdiction under this long-arm provision. The frequency of a
two-state procedure involving the participation of tribunals in
both states should be substantially reduced by the introduction
of this long-arm statute.

 
Subsections (1) through (8) are derived from a variety of
sources, including the UNIFORM PARENTAGE ACT (1973) Section 8,
TEXAS FAMILY CODE Section 102.011, and NEW YORK FAMILY COURT
ACT Section 154.

 
Subsection (1) codifies the holding of Burnham v. Superior
Court, 495 U.S. 604 (1990), which reaffirms the constitutional
validity of asserting personal jurisdiction based on personal
service within a State.

 
Subsection (2) expresses the principle that a nonresident
party concedes personal jurisdiction by seeking affirmative
relief or by submitting to the jurisdiction by answering or
entering an appearance. However, the power to assert
jurisdiction over a support issue under the Act does not
extend the tribunal's jurisdiction to other matters.

 
Subsections (3) through (6) identify specific fact situations
justifying the assertion of long-arm jurisdiction over a
nonresident. Each provides an appropriate affiliating nexus
for such an assertion, when judged on a case-by-case basis
with an eye on procedural and substantive due process.
Further, each subsection does contain a possibility that an
overly literal construction of the terms of the statute will
overreach due process. For example, Subsection (3) provides
that long-arm jurisdiction to establish a support order may be
asserted if "the individual resided with the child in this
State." The typical scenario contemplated by the statute is
that the parties lived as a family unit in the forum State,
separated, and one of the parents subsequently moved to
another State while the other parent and the child continued
to reside in the forum. No time frame is stated for filing a
proceeding; this is based on the fact that the absent parent
has a support obligation that extends for at least the
minority of the child (and often longer in many states).

 
On the other hand, suppose that the two parents and their
child lived in State A for many years, and then decided to
move the family to State B to seek better employment
opportunities. Those opportunities did not materialize and,
after several weeks or a few months of frustration with the
situation, one of the parents returned with the child to State
A. Under these facts a
tribunal of State A may conclude it has long-arm jurisdiction
to establish the support obligation of the absent parent. But,
suppose that


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