Parental Responsibilities of L.S.

Tatanjia McNamara (plaintiff) and Stacy Spotanski (defendant) had a child, L.S., in 2001. In 2003, McNamara, Spotanski, and L.S. moved to Colorado. In 2004, McNamara and Spotanski separated, and Spotanski moved to Nebraska. Later that year, Spotanski and McNamara agreed L.S. would continue to live in Colorado with McNamara and Spotanski would have visitation rights. L.S. visited Spotanski in Nebraska, and Spotanski refused to allow L.S. to return to McNamara in Colorado. Spotanski filed for divorce in Nebraska and asked for custody of L.S. McNamara, acting pro se, objected to Nebraska’s exercise of jurisdiction and filed for divorce in Colorado. The Colorado court dismissed McNamara’s petition because the divorce matter was pending in Nebraska, but the Colorado court did not address the issue of jurisdiction of L.S.’s custody. In 2006, Nebraska granted custody to Spotanski without finding whether it had jurisdiction over the custody matter. McNamara’s appeal to the Nebraska appellate court was dismissed. Nebraska issued a warrant for McNamara’s arrest because she refused to return L.S. to Spotanski’s custody. McNamara filed a separate action in Colorado, and the Colorado court granted custody to McNamara, holding that Colorado courts were not required to enforce the Nebraska custody order because Nebraska did not have jurisdiction. Spotanski appealed and won at the appellate level. McNamara appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court, arguing that because Nebraska did not have jurisdiction under the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA), the Nebraska order was not entitled to full faith and credit in Colorado.