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A state that has made an initial custody determination retains exclusive continuing jurisdiction to modify it. That jurisdiction ends in two situations: where the issuing court determines that neither the child nor the child and a parent have a significant connection with the state and substantial evidence is no longer available there, or where any court determines that the child and both parents no longer reside in the state.
All of a worker's wages are reported to a single state, determined by a sequence adopted in substantially identical form nationwide. The first question is whether the service is localized in one state, meaning performed entirely there or with only incidental work elsewhere. If not, the analysis asks about a base of operations, then the place from which work is directed, then the worker's residence. Applying the tests out of order is the usual error.
An estate without a will is divided under intestacy statutes rather than under any instrument, and two different rules select which statutes apply. Personal property is distributed under the law of the state where the decedent was domiciled at death, wherever the property is held. Real property is distributed under the law of each state where it sits.
State paid family and medical leave programs are insurance schemes funded by contributions from employees, employers or both, administered by a state agency, and generally applying to work performed within the state. Coverage usually follows the same localization logic as unemployment insurance, so a worker is assigned to one state. Eligibility typically requires a minimum earnings history within that state's system, which means a recent mover may have contributed nowhere long enough to qualify.
Federal law sets a documentary standard for cards that will be accepted for federal purposes, but it never required states to condition ordinary driving privileges on immigration status. Around twenty states have used that space to issue a limited license on proof of identity, state residency and a taxpayer identification number, without asking about status at all. The remaining states require evidence of lawful presence for every license they issue.
Federal wage and hour standards apply nationally and set a floor. Above that floor, state law generally follows the place where work is performed, so a remote employee is protected by the law of the state they work in rather than where the employer sits or the contract says. Where the two differ on minimum wage, overtime, breaks, pay frequency, expenses or final pay, the more protective provision usually applies.
The situs rule holds that questions about land are governed by the law of the state where the land is located. It reaches title and its transfer, the formalities of deeds, mortgages and their foreclosure, easements, adverse possession, landlord and tenant regulation of the premises, and the descent of land on death. It survives choice-of-law clauses, because a state's control of the land within its borders is not something private parties can vary.
Withdrawal from an interstate licensure compact requires the member state to repeal its enacting statute, and compacts generally specify a notice period before the withdrawal takes effect. On withdrawal, privileges held in the departing state by practitioners from other members lapse, and privileges held elsewhere by practitioners whose home state was the departing one lapse too. Those affected must obtain full licenses or stop practicing.
Where a state conditions a professional license on lawful presence, boards commonly issue the license for no longer than the underlying status document runs. That produces a license expiring on a federal date rather than on the profession's ordinary cycle, renewable only on production of a current document, and vulnerable whenever a federal extension is slower than the state's expiry.
States assert workers' compensation jurisdiction on several alternative bases: where the injury occurred, where the employment contract was made, where the employment is principally localized, and where the worker resides. More than one can apply to a single injury, and a worker may be able to claim in whichever offers better benefits, subject to credit for amounts already received.
