Middleton v. Middleton

These cases, each involving an international child custody dispute, afford us the first opportunity to apply the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA), Code §§ 20-125 through 146, which became effective January 1, 1980, Acts 1979, ch. 229.

In Middleton, the dispositive question is whether the trial court properly exercised jurisdiction over the issue of child custody, ruling that Virginia and not England was a more convenient forum to make the custody determination. In Lyons, the basic issue is whether the trial court properly refused to exercise jurisdiction over the question of…