Jurisdiction in Florida Divorce Cases
Most of the time, teachers consider it a relief when students ask questions, rather than sitting there like bumps on a log or, in college classrooms, scrolling on their phones. Students’ questions, whether funny or disturbing, are often the highlight of the day that teachers tell their spouses about at dinner or text their teaching colleagues about on the commute home from work. One question continues to be a pet peeve of language arts teachers. “When would anyone ever use these vocab words?” is worse than apathy. Teachers try to explain contexts where students might use the words on the vocab list, but students will have none of it, and eventually it turns into a mutiny, leaving the teachers wondering whatever happened to the optimism that led them to enter the teaching profession in the first place. A vocabulary word that tends to trigger this question is “jurisdiction.” It means a court’s authority to decide on cases, a court’s territory, although that territory can be determined by subject matter as much by geography. In some divorce cases, the spouses disagree over whether the courts of Florida have jurisdiction to dissolve their marriage. In the most complex situations, there is more than one court that is legally authorized to rule on the case, but the spouses must choose the most suitable one. If you are not sure whether Florida is the right place to file your divorce petition, contact a Boca Raton divorce lawyer.
You Know You Are Dealing With a High Net Worth Divorce If Your Estranged Spouse Is Forum Shopping
The courts of Florida have jurisdiction to dissolve marriages if the spouse who files the divorce petition has lived in Florida for at least six months at the time of filing; for example, the Florida family courts dissolved the marriage of a German couple after the wife filed for divorce while she was accompanying the couple’s minor daughter who was spending the academic year in Florida as part of a study abroad program.
The one percent do a lot of things differently, including choosing a forum for their divorce. “Forum shopping” is where wealthy people who divide their time among multiple states or countries file divorce petitions or meet with divorce lawyers in each of their home bases before deciding where to complete. Sometimes these matters are bitterly contested, especially if the various forums would yield different outcomes. For example, one spouse might file the divorce petition in Florida, where the courts divide marital property on what the judge determines is fairest, while the other might file the divorce petition in a community property state like California, where the courts divide the marital property evenly in half unless the parties agree to a marital settlement agreement (MSA) in mediation.
Contact Schwartz | White About Deciding Whether Florida Is the Right Place for Your Divorce
A South Florida family law attorney can help you if you and your spouse have decided to divorce, but Florida is only one of your homes. Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.
Source:
scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=9705163394614241480&q=divorce+perez&hl=en&as_sdt=4,10&as_ylo=2010&as_yhi=2020
