Neal

A petition for a writ of mandate raises the question whether, under the circumstances shown, the Los Angeles County Superior Court has jurisdiction to modify an Arkansas child custody decree.

The parties were married in California and lived in this state until January 1976. The child was bom in California on December 4, 1975. In January 1976 the couple moved to Arkansas, where they resided until the marriage ended in divorce on February 8, 1978. The divorce decree, based on a stipulation of the parties, gave custody to the father, with visitation rights in the mother. On March 10, 1978, in violation of the Arkansas decree, the mother brought the child to California, where she presently resides. On March 27 the father secured, but has not executed, a warrant in lieu of habeas corpus for the return of the child to him.

On March 28, 1978, the mother filed in the respondent court a petition for temporary and permanent child custody.

A hearing was held on March 29, at which the mother testified that while the child had been in Arkansas he had suffered from allergies, which required that he be hospitalized several times; and after three weeks in California he showed no…