From our private database of 34,000+ case briefs...
State ex rel. Ferrara v. Neill
Missouri Court of Appeals
165 S.W.3d 539 (2005)
Facts
In 1985, Victoria Ferrara (plaintiff) and William E. Taylor married while living in Missouri. In August 1988, the couple had a child together. The family then moved to New Mexico. In 1999, Ferrara and Taylor obtained a divorce decree and Taylor was awarded primary physical custody over the child. In 2002, Taylor moved back to Missouri with the child and registered the divorce decree. In 2004, Taylor petitioned the trial court to modify the child support Ferrara owed and the custody arrangement. In response, Ferrara filed a motion to dismiss on the ground that Missouri had no subject-matter jurisdiction because the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA) preempted Missouri’s Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA). Taylor argued that, under the UCCJA, Missouri and New Mexico shared jurisdiction to modify the divorce decree and that the PKPA was not applicable. The trial court found that it could exercise jurisdiction over the case and denied Ferrara’s motion to dismiss. Ferrara then filed a writ of prohibition in the Missouri Court of Appeals against Judge Neill (defendant) of the trial court on the ground that the trial court lacked jurisdiction.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Draper, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 608,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 34,000 briefs, keyed to 984 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
