§ 1085. Registration of child custody determination

(a) A child custody determination issued by a court of another state may be registered in Vermont, with or without a simultaneous request for enforcement, by sending to the Family Division of the Superior Court in the county in which a person listed in subdivision (3) of this subsection or the child resides:

(1) a letter or other document requesting registration;

(2) two copies, including one certified copy, of the determination sought to be registered and a statement under penalty of perjury that to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person seeking registration the order has not been modified; and

(3) except as otherwise provided in section 1079 of this title, the name and address of the person seeking registration and any parent or person acting as a parent who has been awarded custody or visitation in the child custody determination sought to be registered.

(b) On receipt of the documents required by subsection (a) of this section, the Family Division of the Superior Court shall:

(1) send the certified copy of the determination to the Court Administrator who shall file it as a foreign judgment; and

(2) serve notice upon the persons named pursuant to subdivision (a)(3) of this section and provide them with an opportunity to contest the registration in accordance with this section.

(c) The notice required by subdivision (b)(2) of this section shall state that:

(1) a registered determination is enforceable as of the date of the registration in the same manner as a determination issued by a Vermont court;

(2) a hearing to contest the validity of the registered determination must be requested within 20 days after service of notice; and

(3) failure to contest the registration will result in confirmation of the child custody determination and preclude further contest of that determination with respect to any matter that could have been asserted.

(d) A person seeking to contest the validity of a registered order must request a hearing before the court in the county in which such person or the child resides within 20 days after service of the notice. At that hearing, the court shall confirm the registered order unless the person contesting registration establishes that:

(1) the issuing court did not have jurisdiction under subchapter 2 of this chapter;

(2) the child custody determination sought to be registered has been vacated, stayed, or modified by a court having jurisdiction to do so under subchapter 2 of this chapter; or

(3) the person contesting registration was entitled to notice, but notice was not given in accordance with the standards of section 1066 of this title in the proceedings before the court that issued the order for which registration is sought.

(e) If a timely request for a hearing to contest the validity of the registration is not made, the registration is confirmed as a matter of law, and the person requesting registration and all persons served shall be notified of the confirmation.

(f) Confirmation of a registered order, whether by operation of law or after notice and hearing, precludes further contest of the order with respect to any matter that could have been asserted at the time of registration. (Added 2011, No. 29, § 1; amended 2013, No. 67, § 2, eff. June 4, 2013.)