Personal jurisdiction is one of the rules of civil procedure within the US court system. What does that mean? It means that if you live in Kansas and have never been to California, you can't just be arbitrarily sued in California and have to go all the way over there to defend your case. The California court in this example would not have personal jurisdiction over you. Personal jurisdiction- which gives the court a legal right to actually hear your case and make a ruling that is binding on you- is granted when the court has a legitimate interest in deciding the case because you have had sufficient contact with the state where the court is located. Divorce cases, like most other cases, can raise issues of personal jurisdiction.
Understanding Personal Jurisdiction in Divorce
Divorce is regulated by state law, because the state has the greatest interest in determining the rules of marriage or divorce for their individual citizens. In general, each state has passed laws that mandate that you must be a resident of that state if you want to file for divorce there. This doesn't mean you can just move to a different state because the divorce laws are more favorable and then make your spouse come to you- he too must either be a resident of the state or have enough contact with the state that it is fair and reasonable that the divorce be litigated there.
Rules of personal jurisdiction are important because it would be grossly unfair if a person could just move to get a more favorable law:
- This process of cherry picking a court to get more favorable laws is referred to as forum shopping. Rules of civil procedure- such as rules about personal jurisdiction and subject matter jurisdiction- are designed to discourage forum shopping.
- For example, say you and your spouse were going to get divorced and you lived in a state that had equitable distribution of property. You may want to move to a community property state and then file divorce there and hope that the court will apply community property laws so you can get a larger share of the marital assets. It does not work that way and you would not be permitted to do this because of the rules of personal jurisdiction.
Getting Help
If you have concerns about where to file your divorce, especially if your spouse has moved to a different state, it is a good idea to consult with your divorce attorney. He or she can help you to determine which court or courts has authority to hear your divorce case and where you would be best off filing your petition for divorce.
