MARIE C. BOUZOS-REILLY v. JOHN C. REILLY

MARIE C. BOUZOS-REILLY v. JOHN C. REILLY No. 63 WDA 2009 2009 PA Super 165 Atlantic: 980 A.2d 643 Petition for Reargument Denied 10/16/2009 Filed: 8/27/2009
	Appeal from the Order of December 23, 2008 In the Court of Common of Allegheny County, Family Court at No. FD08-009015-006
Before: KLEIN, ALLEN and COLVILLE*, JJ.
Opinion by: KLEIN, J.
Marie C. Bouzos-Reilly (Mother) appeals from the trial court’s order granting John C. Reilly’s (Father) motion to dismiss Mother’s custody complaint on the grounds that a New York judge determined that New York was the home state and that Pennsylvania lacked jurisdiction. We find that the Pennsylvania trial judge abused her discretion when she deferred to a New York trial judge’s improper determination that New York was the home state of the underlying custody matter. Because the trial judge failed to conduct a full hearing with relevant witnesses to elicit testimony regarding the underlying jurisdictional issue, there was insufficient evidence on the record to support the trial court’s findings. Thus, we reverse.

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