We consider the problem of constructing universal Néron models for families of curves with sections. By applying a construction of the author of universal compactified Jacobians over the moduli stack of reduced curves with markings and a result by J. Kass, we get a positive answer for smooth families of curves with planar singularities over Dedekind schemes.Question 1.1. Let M g,n be the moduli stack of reduced curves of given genus g and with n distinct markings. Is there a modular algebraic stack N g,n endowed with a map onto M g,n such that N g,n is a universal Néron model for the Jacobians of families of curves in M g,n ? Moreover, can we describe a modular compactification of N g,n over M g,n ?By a universal Néron model we mean an algebraic stack N g,n endowed with a map π onto M g,n such that given a family of curves (f : X → B; σ 1 , . . . , σ n ) ∈ M g,n (B) over a Dedekind scheme B, which is smooth over a dense open subset U ⊆ B, the pullback of N g,n → M g,n via the moduli map of the family µ f : B → M g,n is isomorphic to the Néron model of J(X U ) over B:A different possibility for extending J(X U ) over B is to take a compactified Jacobian of the family f . This is a proper model of J(X U ) → U and in the case when f has non-integral 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 14H10; Secondary 14H40.