David, J.
Indiana Code § 31-17-2-3(2) allows any person other than a parent to commence a custody action over a child, which is not incidental to a marital dissolution, legal separation, or child support action. In the present case, the paternal aunt and uncle of minor child, M.B., filed an independent action seeking custody of M.B. However, this action was dismissed by the trial court, finding that Aunt and Uncle did not have standing to bring an independent custody action, and the circuit court had no jurisdiction to hear a conflicting action, because a child in need of services (CHINS) proceeding involving M.B. was already pending in the Posey County Juvenile Court. We now grant transfer and reverse the circuit court. Aunt and Uncle had standing to bring the independent custody action, and the circuit court had subject matter jurisdiction over the custody action. However, where the juvenile court was already exercising exclusive jurisdiction over the CHINS proceeding, and Aunt and Uncle’s independent custody action did not arise under one of the enumerated exceptions to that exclusive jurisdiction, the circuit court should stay any proceedings and abstain from exercising its jurisdiction until the CHINS case has concluded. Accordingly, dismissal on the grounds of lack of standing and subject matter jurisdiction was error. We reverse and remand to the circuit court.
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Similarly, we conclude that the Posey County Circuit Court did possess subject matter jurisdiction, which is properly defined as “the power to hear and determine cases of the general class to which any particular proceeding belongs.” K.S., 849 N.E.2d at 540. Yet, having jurisdiction does not automatically mean that it would be appropriate for the circuit court to exercise that jurisdiction. “[C]ourts of concurrent jurisdiction cannot exercise jurisdiction over the same subject at the same time, and [] where one of the courts acquires jurisdiction of the subject matter and the parties, it is vested with such jurisdiction to the exclusion of the other court until the final disposition of the case.” State ex. rel. American Fletcher Nat. Bank & Trust Co. v. Daugherty, 258 Ind. 632, 634-35, 283 N.E.2d 526, 528 (1972). In addition, “[t]his rule is not mitigated where the subject matter before the separate courts is the same, but the actions are in different forms.” Id.
In the present case, a CHINS proceeding and a custody action are distinct in form, but we acknowledge that both involve the same subject matter, which is the care and custody of M.B. Due to this, it would have been appropriate for the circuit court to have allowed the parties to file their independent custody action, but stay the action until the conclusion of the CHINS proceeding, or, had the parties filed a 12(B)(8) motion, the court could possibly have dismissed on those grounds. A court of concurrent jurisdiction should abstain from exercising that jurisdiction when the subject matter is properly before another court. We seek to clarify that abstention is not the same as relinquishing or being divested of jurisdiction, but is “only the postponement of its exercise.” England v. Louisiana State Bd. Of Medical Examiners, 375 U.S. 411, 416 (1964) (explaining that in the context of federal abstention the U.S. Supreme Court has “on several occasions explicitly recognized that abstention ‘does not, of course, involve the abdication of federal jurisdiction, but only the postponement of its exercise’”) (string citation omitted). Again, it would have been appropriate in the present case for the circuit court to simply postpone its exercise of jurisdiction over the independent custody action until the conclusion of the CHINS proceeding. A stay would not be necessary in cases arising under one of the enumerated exceptions of Indiana Code § 31-30-1-1(2), which clearly provides for specific cases to continue in other courts while a CHINS proceeding is pending.
We advise that, absent a 12(B)(8) motion from the parties, the circuit court may allow the parties to file an independent custody action while a CHINS proceeding is pending in juvenile court. However, the circuit court may not exercise its jurisdiction over that action until the CHINS proceeding has concluded. Rather, all action in the custody case should be stayed. In some circumstances, it may be best for the parties and the court for the custody action to at least be filed. For example, if a third party would like to obtain custody of a child that has been found a CHINS, that party would not have to undergo the burden of monitoring the CHINS docket daily to assess when they will be permitted to file their custody action. Rather, the parties may file their action and immediately proceed once the CHINS proceeding has concluded.
Conclusion
We hold that a third-party, who seeks to commence an independent child custody action under Indiana Code § 31-17-2-3(2), may properly do so in circuit court, but if a CHINS case is pending when the custody action is filed and no exception to the juvenile court’s exclusive jurisdiction is applicable, the circuit court should abstain from exercising its jurisdiction and stay any proceedings on the custody action until final disposition of the CHINS proceeding. We reverse the trial court’s dismissal of Aunt and Uncle’s independent custody action and remand for further proceedings.
Rush, C.J., Dickson, Rucker, Massa, J.J., concur.