Which state decides custody
Herrmann v. Herrmann
In brief
- Where it stands
- Petition Pending
Awaiting an order on the petition
- What it’s about
- Jeremy J.
- What's at stake
- Herrmann says the custody orders sharply reduced his contact with his children; the Supreme Court has not ruled on that claim.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.
What it's about
Herrmann argues that state courts shifted interstate custody jurisdiction through an unrecorded judge-to-judge communication without first giving him a meaningful chance to contest it, and later relied on a different reason for custody orders that he says sharply reduced his contact with his children. The Supreme Court has not agreed to hear his petition; it was distributed for a conference.
Herrmann also argues that a court later relied on a domestic-violence relocation reason that was not the original basis for taking jurisdiction.
The dispute concerns how one state's court may take over a custody case from another state's court.
Question presented
Whether the Fourteenth Amendment permits state courts to transfer, accept, and enforce interstate child-custody jurisdiction through an unrecorded judge-to-judge communication, without giving the affected parent a meaningful pre-decision opportunity to present jurisdictional facts and legal argument, where the receiving court proceeds with trial while jurisdiction remains contested, later relies on a post-hoc domestic-violence relocation rationale not used as the original jurisdictional basis, and the resulting orders functionally destroy meaningful parent-child contact?
What happens next
The next step is for the Court to consider whether to hear the petition at its Dec. 4, 2026 conference. The conference listing does not guarantee an order date.
Documents
Docket activity
Case data updated: title
New analysis added
AI analysis generated: Case Briefing
Case data updated: summary, question_presented, generation_metadata
Case data updated: question_presented, extraction_metadata
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Brief added: Petition
Sources
Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.