J.W. S.W. v. C.B., 68 So. 3d 878

Juvenile court adjudicated child dependent in July 2008 and awarded physical custody to paternal grandparents, with joint legal custody to paternal grandparents and maternal grandparents.
Mother petitioned to modify custody in June 2009; juvenile court granted mother custody-modification in December 2009.
Paternal grandparents and father appealed the modification judgment; this court found insufficient evidence of a material change in circumstances and reversed/remanded.
Following this court’s decision, the juvenile court, citing Ex parte T.C., concluded it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over the mother’s custody-modification petition and vacated the 2009 modification.
The juvenile court held that any modification petition must be filed in circuit court, and issued an October 7, 2010 judgment dismissing the petition for lack of jurisdiction; grandparents appealed.
This appeal concerns whether the juvenile court had jurisdiction to consider the mother’s custody-modification petition and thus whether its October 2010 order was correct.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the juvenile court had subject-matter jurisdiction	Paternal grandparents contend jurisdiction existed due to prior adjudication	Mother/juvenile court argued lack of continuing jurisdiction absent dependency	Juvenile court did have continuing jurisdiction; reversed and remanded for proper judgment

Ex parte T.C., 63 So.3d 627 (Ala. Civ. App. 2010) (clarifies AJJA jurisdiction limits and custody-modification scope)
Ex parte L.N.K., 64 So.3d 656 (Ala. Civ. App. 2010) (continues juvenile jurisdiction when child previously adjudicated dependent)
State v. Property at 2018 Rainbow Drive, 740 So.2d 1025 (Ala. 1999) (trial court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction; dismissal required)
J.W. v. C.B., 56 So.3d 693 (Ala. Civ. App. 2010) (earlier appellate decision guiding disposition)
Ex parte Byrom, 47 So.3d 791 (Ala. 2010) (pure question-of-law standard of review cited)