Santa Barbara, CA Divorce Law Firms & Lawyers

In Utah, the law is that as long as one of you is a resident of the state of Utah (meaning that one of you has resided in Utah for no less than three consecutive months), can file for divorce in the state of Utah. Now do not confuse the fact that you can file for divorce in the state of Utah with Utah having jurisdiction over your spouse who lives in another state. This next part is a little tricky to explain. There are at least two jurisidictional components to a divorce. Jurisdiction simply means the power of a court to decide cases and issue orders. Utah can have jurisdiction over dissolving your marriage (as opposed to the court's power to divide your marital property and/or award alimony) if at least one of you is a resident of the state of Utah. This is known as "in rem jurisdiction" or jurisdiction over the thing, the "thing" being the marriage itself, not the marital property. Utah can also have jurisdiction over any child custody disputes if Utah qualifies as the "home state" of the children. I won't go into detail here about what criteria you have for Utah to be considered the home state of the children other than to say the children must have resided in the state of Utah no less than six months prior to the date of the filing of the case. Then there is the question of jurisdiction over the "marital estate." Your marital estate consists of the property that is acquired during marriage and that is subject to distribution or division at the time of marital dissolution. Generally, it is property acquired after the date of the marriage and before a spouse files for separation or divorce. To have jurisdiction to decide issues of division of marital property and spousal support, a court must have "in personam" jurisdiction, meaning jurisdiction over the person against whom you are seeking an award of marital property and/or alimony. OK, stay with me. The court?s in personam jurisdiction over a defendant is not required to terminate the marriage. In rem jurisdiction is sufficient since the court is merely adjudicating a status (marriage), rather than creating or dissolving specific duties and obligations. While a court with in rem jurisdiction may, despite a lack of actual jurisdiction of the person of the defendant, render a valid divorce decree, a court lacking in personam jurisdiction may not adjudicate personal rights, such as property and support rights, in divorce cases. (See Am. Jur. 2d, Divorce, ? 579. Personal jurisdiction) A spouse that obtains a decree of dissolution of marriage without obtaining personal jurisdiction over a respondent spouse who may be out of the state or the United States may later obtain personal jurisdiction over the respondent former spouse and then file a proceeding for maintenance, division of marital property, or temporary orders. (Id.) Thus, just as a trial court, generally, may not determine financial issues absent personal jurisdiction acquired pursuant to statute or by consent, the trial court in a divorce proceeding must have personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant in order to determine issues of spousal support and property division, even if the nonresident defendant is the spouse seeking alimony. (Id.) A court may obtain personal jurisdiction over a party to a dissolution action through: (1) personal service of process; (2) constructive service (like service by publication); or (3) the party's consent, which may occur by an express waiver, by inadvertence or by the appropriate entry of an appearance or by undertaking to litigate in a court. (Id.) As you might conclude at this point, if you have questions about divorce where spouses live in different state and about jurisdiction, consult a good lawyer to ensure you make no mistakes.

It all depends on the facts of the case, but, as Wisconsin is a Community Property state, the presumption is half. I welcome you to email, so that I can represent you well in the case (to get you the best results).