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1988 Army Law. 62 (1988)
Some Tips on Automobile Damage Estimates

handle is hein.journals/armylaw1988 and id is 122 raw text is: The teaching point is clear-resort to self-help in child custody matters is fraught with danger, even when the par- ent is doing no more than asserting a legal right that exists beyond dispute. Part of this decision's importance rests on a state's will- ingness to pursue criminal enforcement against a parent who allegedly kidnaps a child. But how common is it for a state to initiate criminal action in such cases? Case law sug- gests that states may be getting more aggressive in this regard. Three different courts have recently held that a vis- iting parent who fails to return a child to the custodial parent after a period of visitation has violated the state's criminal statutes. See Wheat v. Alaska, 734 P.2d 1007 (Ct. App. Alaska 1987); Illinois v. Caruso, 152 Ill. App. 3d 1074, 504 N.E.2d 1339 (1987); Rios v. Wyoming, 733 P.2d 242 (Wyo. 1987). In each of these cases, the parent who allegedly commit- ted the offense did so while residing outside the state. Thus, consider the hypothetical case of a soldier stationed in Tex- as who arranges for a child to be flown from the custodial parent's home in Wyoming for visitation in Texas and who then refuses to return the child. If there is a court order es- tablishing the other parent's right to custody, the soldiei could be extradited to Wyoming for a violation of Wyo- ming law (ie., interference with a Wyoming resident's custodial rights) and there be subjected to criminal prosecu- tion. It would be no defense that the soldier had never before stepped foot in Wyoming. Neither must the custody decree emanate from a Wyoming court; it is enough that some valid court order exists and affords the other parent the right to custody. Given the extent of our legal assistance clients' interna- tional mobility, it is also worth noting that U.S. jurisdictions are showing a willingness to apply UCCJA limitations when asked to exercise jurisdiction and ignore custody proceedings pending in foreign courts. At least four different states have declined to hear cases initiated by U.S. citizens because a court in another country already had ju- risdiction over the matter. Thus, in Middleton v. Middleton, 227 Va. 82, 314 S.E.2d 549 (1984), the Virginia Supreme Court found that a state trial court should decline to entertain an action to modify its own earlier custody order because the children had re- sided in England for the preceeding six years. Instead, the custody dispute should be heard by the English court where the mother initiated an action to remedy the father's refusal to return the children after a period of visitation in Virgin- ia. In Klont v. Klont, 130 Mich. App. 138, 342 N.W.2d 549 (1984), a Michigan appellate court held that the trial court should have deferred in exercising jurisdiction in a child custody case because a West German court already had ju- risdiction over the dispute and the parties. More recently, a Texas court deferred to a Mexican court's jurisdiction in an ongoing divorce and custody matter. Garza v. Harney, 726 S.W.2d 198 (Tex. Ct. App. 1987). The Mississippi Supreme Court came to the same conclusion regarding a matter pending before a Canadian court. Laskosky v. Laskosky, 504 So. 2d 726 (Miss. 1987). The overall result of these recent cases in this often-liti- gated corner of the law is a reaffirmation of the notion that self-help and dirty tricks will not be rewarded. A concern for the child's best interests is a concept that pervades all these decisions, and that is a trend few will want to criti- cize. Major Guilford. Child Support Developments West Germany recently enacted legislation that allows its officials to enter into reciprocal agreements with individual states regarding child support enforcement. Consequently, Germany may be treated just as another state in Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (URESA) actions in those jurisdictions that have such agreements. This will allow a more streamlined support enforcement procedure than the old method of seeking assistance through the Deu- tsches Instituet fuer Vormundschaftswesen (the DIV, or German Institute for Guardianship Affairs). Parents who are entitled to receive support from obligors located in West Germany (including soldiers and civilians stationed there) may now be able to seek assistance through the local state child support enforcement agency. Mr. Robert Dunn of the Office of the USAREUR Judge Advocate reports that as of November 1987, twelve states had entered into such reciprocal agreements. They are: Cal- ifornia, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and Tennessee. Major Guilford. Claims Report United States Army Claims Service Some Tips on Automobile Damage Estimates Captain Harold E. Brown, Jr. CONUS Torts Branch Settling automobile claims'almost always requires the use of damage estimates from body shops, car dealerships, and insurance companies. Many claims offices tell claimants to secure estimates of repair to submit with their claims. To properly review an estimate, however, a claims examiner FEBRUARY 1988 THE ARMY LAWYER e DA PAM 27-50-:182 I

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