Florida Statute 61.528 - Full Text and Legal Analysis

The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title VI
CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE

Chapter 61
DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE; SUPPORT; TIME-SHARING

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61.528 Registration of child custody determination.—

(1) A child custody determination issued by a court of another state may be registered in this state, with or without a simultaneous request for enforcement, by sending to the circuit court of the county where the petitioner or respondent resides or where a simultaneous request for enforcement is sought:

(a) A letter or other document requesting registration;

(b) Two copies, including one certified copy, of the determination sought to be registered and a statement under penalty of perjury that, to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person seeking registration, the order has not been modified; and

(c) Except as otherwise provided in s. 61.522, the name and address of the person seeking registration and any parent or person acting as a parent who has been awarded custody or visitation in the child custody determination sought to be registered.

(2) On receipt of the documents required by subsection (1), the registering court shall:

(a) Cause the determination to be filed as a foreign judgment, together with one copy of any accompanying documents and information, regardless of their form; and

(b) Serve notice upon the persons named pursuant to paragraph (1)(c) and provide them with an opportunity to contest the registration in accordance with this section.

(3) The notice required by paragraph (2)(b) must state that:

(a) A registered determination is enforceable as of the date of the registration in the same manner as a determination issued by a court of this state;

(b) A hearing to contest the validity of the registered determination must be requested within 20 days after service of notice; and

(c) Failure to contest the registration will result in confirmation of the child custody determination and preclude further contest of that determination with respect to any matter that could have been asserted.

(4) A person seeking to contest the validity of a registered order must request a hearing within 20 days after service of the notice. At that hearing, the court shall confirm the registered order unless the person contesting registration establishes that:

(a) The issuing court did not have jurisdiction under ss. 61.514-61.523;

(b) The child custody determination sought to be registered has been vacated, stayed, or modified by a court having jurisdiction to do so under ss. 61.514-61.523; or

(c) The person contesting registration was entitled to notice, but notice was not given in accordance with the standards of s. 61.509 in the proceedings before the court that issued the order for which registration is sought.

(5) If a timely request for a hearing to contest the validity of the registration is not made, the registration is confirmed as a matter of law and the person requesting registration and all persons served must be notified of the confirmation.

(6) Confirmation of a registered order, whether by operation of law or after notice and hearing, precludes further contest of the order with respect to any matter that could have been asserted at the time of registration.

History.—s. 5, ch. 2002-65.

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Amendments to 61.528

Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 61.528

Total Results: 4 | Sort by: Relevance | Newest First

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Nadine Mcindoo v. Ashley Atkinson, 159 So. 3d 227 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015).

Cited 1 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 2151, 2015 WL 671167

...tion, or enforcement under ss. 61.524-61.540. § 61.503(4), Fla. Stat. (2013) (emphasis added). As can be seen, the petition for domestication of foreign judgment and notice of registration filed by the mother, pursuant to sections 61.526 and 61.528, respectively, are expressly not included as “child custody proceedings” under the UCCJEA....

...proceeding” under the definition in the UCCJEA before the trial court can have jurisdiction to act upon a petition to domesticate a foreign custody order. To the contrary, both the statute governing domestication of a foreign judgment (section 61.526) and registration of a judgment (section 61.528) are contained within Florida’s UCCJEA statutes....

...Since section 61.519 expressly states that the court may not exercise jurisdiction under sections 61.514-61.524, the simultaneous proceedings statute did not bar the trial court’s jurisdiction to entertain the mother’s petition to domesticate under section 61.526 or the notice she filed under section 61.528. Proper Statutory Application The proper statute which the trial court should have applied was section 61.526, Florida Statutes (2013)....

...r. Additionally, since the father failed to file a valid objection to the mother’s notice of registration, the NY Order should have also been confirmed as a registered order, and thus, was enforceable as of the date of the registration. See §§ 61.528(3)(a), (5), Fla....

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Orsi v. Bollella, 939 So. 2d 254 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006).

Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2006 Fla. App. LEXIS 17294, 2006 WL 2959151

Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, section 61.528(1), Florida Statutes (2006), which provides:

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Mattingly, Mattingly v. Hatfield (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2024).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida

but “register” is a more appropriate term. See § 61.528, Fla. Stat.

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Mattingly, Mattingly v. Hatfield (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2024).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida

but “register” is a more appropriate term. See § 61.528, Fla. Stat.

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