Seize, Run, and Sue: The Ignominy of Interstate Child Custody Litigation in American Courts
![handle is hein.journals/molr39 and id is 531 raw text is: SEIZE, RUN, AND SUE:
THE IGNOMINY OF INTERSTATE CHILD CUSTODY LITIGATION
IN AMERICAN COURTS
by
Leona Mary Hudak*
I. INMODTCrION
For every three marriages solemnized in the United States each year,
one divorce is granted. In some states the statistics approach one in two.1
The most pernicious and tragic aspect of a broken American marriage
involving children is the custody-visitation aftermath. Therein lies a serious
indictment of the American juridical-legal-legislative system.2 For with
official recission of the nuptial contract, begin the often devious and
vengeful machinations and maneuvers of noncustodian v. custodian-open
to hearing and rehearing3 in the courtrooms of 52 jurisdictions4-all
masquerading in the guise of doing what is in the best interest of the
child. If he or she is dissatisfied, the noncustodial parent need only hire an
attorney, establish some minimum contacts with another state, transport
the child there on his first visitation with him,5 and the battle is on
*Assistant Professor of Law, University of Missouri-Kansas City; BA, Case
Western Reserve University; MA, MALS, University of Wisconsin; JD, LLM,
Cleveland State University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
1. In 1972 there were 2,269,000 marriages and 839,000 divorces in the
United States. Wonx.n ALMANAC Am Boox oF FACTs, 1973, at 1016 (c. 1974).
In California in 1972 there were 173,563 marriages and 111,162 divorces; a
ratio of nearly one to one.
2. Hazard, May v. Anderson: Preamble to Family Law Chaos, 45 VA. L.
REv. 379 (1959). [T]he struggle between divorced spouses over the custody of
their children has transcended the brutality and irregularity of guerrilla warfare.
Id. at 392.
3. In Munroe v. Munroe, 47 Wash. 2d 391, 287 P.2d 482 (1955), during
a 3-year period, the divorced husband and wife filed between 20 and 30 con-
tempt actions against each other. In Hixson v. Hixson, 199 Ore. 559, 263 P.2d
597 (1953), the ex-husband filed between 60 and 70 documents in regard to
custody after the divorce. See Davis, Children of Divorced Parents: Sociological
and Statistical Analysis, 10 LAw & CoN'rEM . PROB. 700, 708 (1944), wherein it
says that after a divorce, the child can serve as a convenient instrument through
which former spouses can express their mutual resentment.
4. This includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
In Crowell v. Crowell, 184 Ore. 467, 198 P.2d 992 (1948), for example, a
habeas corpus action, the Oregon Supreme Court had to choose between the
enforcement of 5 decrees made at various times in Oklahoma and Texas courts.
In Allen v. Allen, 200 Ore. 278, 268 P.2d 358 (1954), a son and daughter of
tender years were subject to 7 separate custodial contentions between their par-
ents in 9 years in the courts of Oklahoma, California, and Oregon.
5. Denial of visiting privileges with the noncustodial parent is virtually
unknown, unless he or she is a pervert, habitual criminal, drug addict, alcoholic,
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Seize, Run, and Sue: The Ignominy of Interstate Child Custody Litigation in American Courts
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