Mason Wayne Morris v. Jasmine Sharell Morris

── Mason Wayne Morris v. Jasmine Sharell Morris ── Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal Date: May 13, 2026 Category: General STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL, THIRD CIRCUIT 25-746 MASON WAYNE MORRIS VERSUS JASMINE SHARELL MORRIS ********** APPEAL FROM THE NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT PARISH OF RAPIDES, NO. 278,631 HONORABLE DAVID MICHAEL WILLIAMS, DISTRICT JUDGE ********** WILBUR L. STILES JUDGE ********** Court composed of Sharon Darville Wilson, Guy E. Bradberry, and Wilbur L. Stiles, Judges. REVERSED AND REMANDED. Michael H. Davis Law Office of Michael H. Davis 2017 MacArthur Drive Building 4, Suite “A” Alexandria, LA 71301 (318) 445-3621 COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF/APPELLANT: Mason Wayne Morris Kenneth A. Doggett, Jr. Attorney at Law 1100 Martin Luther King Drive Post Office Drawer 13498 Alexandria, LA 71301 (318) 888-3644 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Jasmine Sharell Morris STILES, Judge. Appellant, Mason Wayne Morris, filed in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, a Petition to Make Foreign Judgment Executory in which he asked the trial court to make executory in the State of Louisiana the final decree of divorce and custody rendered by the circuit court in Dekalb County, Alabama. The trial court denied and dismissed Mason’s petition by judgment signed on May 12, 2025. Mason appeals. For the following reasons, we reverse and remand the matter to the trial court. ISSUES The matter before us is a custody dispute between Mason and Jasmine Morris involving their daughter, Madeline Morris, who was born on April 28, 2020.1 At the center of the dispute is whether the State of Alabama or the State of Louisiana has subject matter jurisdiction over the custody proceedings. In dismissing Mason’s petition to make the Alabama divorce and custody decree executory in the State of Louisiana, the trial court held that the State of Alabama did not have jurisdiction pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). Mason has appealed that judgment, asserting the following assignments of error: A. The trial court erred in not allowing the Alabama judgment of custody to [be] made executory in the State of Louisiana. B. The trial court erred in not considering the Exception of Res Judicata filed by Mason Wayne Morris and finding the issues of jurisdiction over the subject matter and custody are res judicata. 1 We note that her birthdate was in incorrectly stated as April 20, 2020 in the previous opinion of this court under docket number 24-705.  FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY This court previously considered the issue of which state has jurisdiction over the custody dispute in docket number 24-705 when Jasmine appealed the trial court’s denial of her petition for custody. The opinion rendered by the previous panel in 24- 705 on April 30, 2025, contains the same facts and procedural history which form the basis of this appeal. We have thus reproduced those facts below: Madeline Morris was born on April 20, 2020, in Louisiana. Her parents, Mason and Jasmine, were not married at the time of Madeline’s birth and did not live together. Mason and Jasmine married on March 23, 2021, in Fort Polk (now Fort Johnson), Louisiana. After Madeline’s birth, Mason was deployed to Texas for nine months and to Kuwait and Qatar for seven months in 2021. The parties lived together on base after they married, but Mason alleges that he maintained his domicile in DeKalb County, Alabama, while he was in the military. Mason and Jasmine separated on April 28, 2023. Prior to the separation, Madel