Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act.

Terms Used In New Mexico Statutes 40-10A-105

  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.

(a)     A court of this state shall treat a foreign country as if it were a state of the United States for the purpose of applying Articles 1 and 2 of the Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act.

(b)     Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c), a child-custody determination made in a foreign country under factual circumstances in substantial conformity with the jurisdictional standards of the Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act must be recognized and enforced under Article 3 of that act.

(c)     A court of this state need not apply the Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act if the child custody law of a foreign country violates fundamental principles of human rights.