No: If the petitioner seeks only to sever the marriage-if she seeks only a divorce and not the resolution of any financial issues-then the court will have jurisdiction even if the responding spouse has no contacts with the forum state. Must that spouse have the “minimum contacts” with the forum state typically required for assertions of personal jurisdiction? Interestingly, the answer is both no and yes. Some states-like New York-impose residency requirements as long as one year, while others-like Washington State-have no residency requirement at all.Īssuming that the petitioning spouse is domiciled in the state and satisfies the durational residency requirement, the jurisdictional analysis shifts to the responding spouse. These statutory requirements vary by state, but the most common requirement is six months. Even if one of the spouses is domiciled in the state, the court will proceed only if the petitioning spouse can also satisfy the state’s durational residency requirement. citizen or has a green card (and can readily establish a right to remain in the United States indefinitely) may have a problem demonstrating domicile and invoking state court jurisdiction. So international couples in which neither spouse is a U.S. State courts in the United States may divorce couples that were married abroad even if the cause for the divorce occurred abroad, but only if one of the spouses is domiciled in (or at least a resident of) the forum state at the time the divorce action is commenced. While these goals might well be served by affording international couples a federal forum in which to litigate family law disputes, the Supreme Court has concluded that a domestic relations exception “divests the federal courts of power to issue divorce, alimony, and child custody decrees.” Thus, federal courts are not an option for international couples seeking to resolve their family law disputes in an American court. party from bias and to preserve harmony between the United States and foreign nations. This type of jurisdiction, called alienage jurisdiction, is designed to protect the non-U.S. state and citizens or subjects of a foreign nation. Since the founding of the nation, federal courts in the United States have been authorized to hear lawsuits between citizens of a U.S. How do American courts handle family law disputes that arise between these international couples? Finally, consider that many couples are taking legal matters into their own hands by signing premarital and separation agreements, which may contain choice-of-law clauses. And recognize that countries around the world are governed by different legal regimes, such as the common law system, civil codes, religious law, and customary law. Add to this mix increasing mobility, migration, and rising numbers of international couples-partners that are citizens of different countries, live outside the country of which they are citizens, or move between countries. And more same-sex couples are living together and marrying. More parents are having children when they are older and better educated. Many couples are cohabiting before marriage or eschewing marriage altogether so more children are born to unmarried parents. The structure of the American family has changed dramatically over the last several decades.
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