Background
A Pennsylvania custody case involving S.G. and A.A. began in Montgomery County. In 2024, that court allowed Mother to live in Missouri with the child while Father remained in Pennsylvania and continued exercising custodial time here. Montgomery County retained jurisdiction and later transferred the case to Chester County, where Father lived.
Four days after the county-to-county transfer, Mother asked Chester County to send the case to Missouri under Section 5427 of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. The UCCJEA allows a court with jurisdiction to decline it when another state is a more convenient forum. Mother’s filing asserted a fact outside the existing record—that Father planned to move to Allegheny County. Father did not answer before Chester County granted the request as an unopposed motion, although he filed an opposition three days later.
Father sought reconsideration and filed a timely appeal. The custody court believed the appeal deprived it of power to act, but later acknowledged that a hearing would have been warranted. The Superior Court noted that a trial court can expressly grant timely reconsideration within the appeal period under Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 1701, though no such order was entered here.
The Court’s Holding
In a precedential opinion by Senior Judge Ford Elliott, the Superior Court reversed. Chester County’s local rules distinguish motions from petitions. A request based on facts outside the record must proceed as a petition, which triggers a rule-to-show-cause process. Because Mother’s proposed interstate transfer depended centrally on Father’s alleged future move, the custody court should have treated the filing as a petition rather than grant it summarily as an unopposed motion.
Under the applicable local procedure, Mother was required to submit the necessary proposed rule, and the court had to follow the response process. Even if Father failed to answer on time, the court could grant final relief only after the steps required by Local Rule 206.4(c)(4), including a request to make the rule absolute. Mother candidly conceded on appeal that the court ruled prematurely. Disregarding those procedures affected Father’s opportunity to contest a decisive factual assertion and required reversal.
The panel also rejected the view that Section 5427’s use of the word “motion” displaced local pleading rules. In context, the statutory term identifies who may invoke the inconvenient-forum provision—a party or the court on its own initiative—rather than prescribing the procedural form of every request. Regardless of form, Section 5427(b) requires the custody court to allow the parties to submit information and to consider all relevant statutory forum factors before relinquishing jurisdiction. Chester County did neither when it treated the filing as automatically granted. The panel remanded for further proceedings without deciding whether a Section 5427 request must always be a petition in Chester County or how other counties’ rules apply.
Key Takeaways
- A Chester County custody-transfer request based on facts outside the record must follow local petition and rule-to-show-cause procedures.
- The UCCJEA’s reference to a “motion” does not override otherwise applicable local rules governing the form and processing of a filing.
- A court considering inconvenient forum under 23 Pa.C.S. § 5427 must permit party submissions and consider the relevant statutory factors before transferring jurisdiction.
- A pending appeal does not prevent a trial court from expressly granting reconsideration within the time and conditions specified by Rule 1701(b)(3).
Why It Matters
S.G. is a warning against treating interstate custody jurisdiction as an ordinary uncontested scheduling matter. Relinquishing Pennsylvania jurisdiction can substantially alter where a parent must litigate and exercise custodial rights. The mandatory UCCJEA analysis therefore cannot be bypassed simply because an opposing paper was late or a filing was captioned as a motion.
Family-law practitioners should check both Section 5427 and the local procedural rules in the county holding jurisdiction. Where a transfer request relies on new factual allegations, counsel should use the correct petition practice, secure a rule to show cause, document service, and build a record on every relevant forum factor. Parties seeking reconsideration should also remember that filing a notice of appeal preserves appellate rights, while the trial court retains a narrow window to expressly grant reconsideration.