Today we are going to discuss a part of West Virginia Divorce that many people are not familiar with, but is important. I’m speaking about jurisdiction. What is it? Jurisdiction in layman’s terms is really saying what court has the right of judgment over an issue, person, or case. It’s crucial and absolutely necessary for West Virginia to have jurisdiction for you to be able to file your divorce in West Virginia. What are the requirements for West Virginia to have jurisdiction?
There’s really two basic ways to do this. Number one, both people have lived in the state of West Virginia for a period greater than one year. If both of you have lived in West Virginia for a period of greater than one year, then you can get a divorce. The other way that you can get jurisdiction over a divorce and West Virginia is if you were married here, and you or one of you happens to live in West Virginia. Let’s say that you separate and then one of you comes to West Virginia where your spouse and you decided to have been married here, then you can get a divorce in West Virginia.
Is It Possible For Two States To Have Jurisdiction?
It’s really important that you ask some basic questions prior to filing because you’re going to waste a lot of time and a lot of money fighting over jurisdiction in the event that you don’t get it. Sometimes it becomes very complicated.
Let’s say that you were married in West Virginia, but you and the other person decides they’re going to file in another state. Is it possible for two different States to have jurisdiction? Those are some of the things that you need to be thinking about and knowing some of these things could help you try to minimize and keep the costs down the best you can.
What we’ve talked about here is the basics in terms of jurisdiction for actually filing for a divorce. Some other issues are involved. For example, what court do you file in? Let’s say the state of West Virginia has jurisdiction, but you have to determine what actual court for filing in. The other issue that sometimes comes up is jurisdiction over the kids. That’s a completely separate topic and we can dive into at a later time. Those are some of the basics about jurisdiction of filing for divorce in West Virginia.
