5D05-669 Steckler v.Steckler

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State: Florida

Court: Florida Fifth District Court

Docket No: 5D05-669

Case Date: 02/13/2006

Preview:IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FIFTH DISTRICT JANUARY TERM 2006

REBECCA S. STECKLER, Appellant, v. MARC E. STECKLER, Appellee. ________________________________/ Opinion filed February 17, 2006 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Volusia County, Patrick G. Kennedy, Judge. Richard D'Amico, Daytona Beach, for Appellant. No Appearance for Appellee. Case No. 5D05-669

ORFINGER, J. The former wife, Rebecca S. Steckler, appeals the trial court's denial of her motion to stay enforcement proceedings and determine jurisdiction, and granting the former husband's motion for contempt and enforcement of final judgment. The former wife and the former husband had three children together. The parties separated in July 2003, at which time the former wife and the children moved to North Dakota. The parties' marriage was dissolved by final judgment in the circuit court of Volusia County, Florida in April 2004. The final judgment provided, in pertinent part, that the parties

were to have shared parental responsibility, but that the former wife was to be the primary residential parent for the children, who reside with her in North Dakota. The final judgment also provided that the children spend four consecutive weeks during the summer and Christmas in even-numbered years with the former husband in Florida. In August 2004, the former husband filed a motion for contempt and for enforcement of the final judgment. The former husband alleged that he had tried to contact the former wife about visitation during the summer of 2004, but she refused to accept his letters or return his phone calls. After due consideration, the trial court modified the custody order, allowing the former husband to have visitation with the children for their entire Christmas break in 2004 as compensation for his inability to have visitation during the summer, as required by the final judgment. The former husband visited the children in North Dakota during Thanksgiving of 2004. Following the former husband's Thanksgiving visit, the former wife filed a petition for protection against the former husband in North Dakota on behalf of herself and the children. In the petition, the former wife alleged that the former husband posed an immediate and present danger to her and her children. Specifically, the former wife claimed that the former husband abused her while he was in North Dakota for Thanksgiving. The North Dakota trial court granted a temporary domestic violence protection order and set a date for a hearing on the former wife's petition. The former husband appeared at the hearing via telephone without counsel. On December 27, 2004, the North Dakota trial court issued a two-year domestic violence protective order against the former husband. The order provided, in pertinent part:

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[Former husband] may call the children once each week on Wednesday between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. central standard time. The children may choose not to talk to their father if that is their wish. .... [Former husband] has waived his right to Christmas visitation for the year 2004. After Christmas 2004, visitation with the two younger children shall continue as previously ordered. The oldest child may choose not to visit if that is her desire. In the interim, in compliance with the Florida modified visitation order, the former husband purchased airplane tickets for the children to visit him in Florida over the Christmas holidays. The former husband gave the former wife a copy of the children's itinerary, but she did not send them to visit the former husband, contending that the North Dakota court had determined that the former husband had "waived" his Christmas visit. The former husband then filed a motion to enforce the visitation order and sought sanctions against the former wife. Because of the North Dakota protection order, the former wife filed a motion to stay the enforcement proceeding to consider the former husband's motion for contempt and enforcement of the final judgment, and to determine jurisdiction. In her motion, the former wife argued that two proceedings were pending in different states concerning the custodial rights of the parties; therefore, the trial court should communicate with the North Dakota court to determine jurisdiction under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act ("UCCJEA"), 1 and the trial court should afford the North Dakota protective order full faith and credit. After a

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hearing on the motions, the Florida court denied the former wife's motion to determine jurisdiction, reasoning that since the North Dakota judge did not contact him as required under the UCCJEA, the courts of Florida had not relinquished jurisdiction, and jurisdiction over child custody still remained in Florida. The trial judge determined that the former husband was entitled to make up visitation to compensate for the missed Christmas visit. This appeal followed. The former wife contends that the trial court erred in failing to afford North Dakota's domestic violence protective order against the former husband full faith and credit under 18 U.S.C.A.

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