Filing and Enforcement of Custody Decree of Another State

Filing and Enforcement of Custody Decree of Another State. (a) A certified copy of a custody decree of another state may be filed with the clerk of the Commonwealth Trial Court. The clerk shall treat the decree in the same manner as a custody decree of the Commonwealth Trial Court. A custody decree so filed has the same effect and shall be enforced in like manner as a custody decree rendered by the Commonwealth Trial Court. (b) A person violating a custody decree of another state which makes it necessary to enforce the decree in the Commonwealth Trial Court may be required to pay necessary travel and other expenses, including attorney’s fees, incurred by the party entitled to the custody or the party’s witnesses. Source: PL 3-50, § 16. Commission Comment: Section 4 of PL 6-25, the “Commonwealth Judicial Reorganization Act of 1989,” provides that “[w]herever the term ‘Commonwealth Trial Court’ appears in the Commonwealth Code, it is henceforth to be interpreted and understood to refer to the Commonwealth Superior Court.”