Divorce Basics Attorney in Dallas, Texas

What jurisdictional considerations do I need to keep in mind if I am getting a divorce and live in Texas, while my spouse lives in another state?

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You know, that’s something that’s becoming more commonplace. So there are a bunch of different issues with that. I mean the question is, can you do that? Yes, you absolutely can, as long as you meet the jurisdictional requirements. So you have to have lived in county for 90 days. You to have lived in the State of Texas for a period of six months. Now the question becomes whether or not the court has jurisdiction over your spouse? So is it that your spouse say, you know, took a job and moved to New York, or moved to California, or had actually been in state? If she had been in state, that’s not a problem at all, because then the court can exercise jurisdiction over that person, so that’s not a problem.

The issue becomes, let’s say that you moved to Texas from New York and your spouse has never stepped foot in Texas. Then you’ve got an issue with the court in Texas establishing jurisdiction over the person. So there are a lot of issues that go into that, and then additionally, let’s say that you’ve got property that was acquired in New York. Well the court in Texas isn’t going to be able to acquire jurisdiction over that particular property. Now they can order you to do something. Let’s say that the court orders you to sell an apartment that you’ve got in the West Village in New York City. Okay. The court can order you to do that, but the court cannot exercise certain things that they could in Texas, because they don’t have jurisdiction specifically over the property in New York.

Dallas high-net-worth divorce attorney, Mark Scroggins, discusses how to navigate a divorce when the spouses live in different states.

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