Filing a case in a Georgia superior court gives that court personal jurisdiction over you.
Filing Is Submitting
In Barolia v. Pirani, 260 Ga. App. 513 (2003), a former husband filed suit in Cobb County Superior Court to divide property that a Texas divorce decree had left undecided. The Court of Appeals noted that while the record did not establish where he lived, “he filed the initial complaint in Cobb Superior Court, thus submitting himself to that court’s jurisdiction.”
What Your Spouse Can File Back
In Yount v. Mulle, 266 Ga. 729 (1996), a Tennessee father filed a petition in Chatham County Superior Court to modify custody and visitation. The mother counterclaimed for increased child support, and the trial court ruled that it had no personal jurisdiction over the father on that claim. The Georgia Supreme Court reversed. The father “made the purposeful choice to avail himself of the courts of this state,” and “[h]aving invoked this state’s jurisdiction to attempt to accomplish his ends, he could not then renounce it for a related cause unfavorable to him.”
What You Are Agreeing To
OCGA 15-1-2 explains why this works. Parties cannot hand a court subject matter jurisdiction by agreeing to it, but “lack of jurisdiction of the person may be waived.” Personal jurisdiction is the one piece of a court’s authority you can supply yourself, and filing supplies it.
What you submit to is the case you brought and the claims related to it, which in a domestic case can mean alimony, child support, and division of property. Living in another state does not change that. So think about what a Georgia court will be able to order against you before you file, not after.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!