JURISDICTION

Generally, Texas court may exercise jurisdiction over the parties to a divorce if at least one of the parties to the marriage has resided in Texas for at least six (6) months and has lived in the county where the divorce is filed for the last ninety (90) days before the filing.

If the parties have children of the marriage, the court automatically has jurisdiction over children below the age of 18 years, and to some limited extent to children over the age of 18 years who suffer from an incapacitating mental or physical disability.

Nonresident party needs minimum contacts with the State of Texas sufficient to give the party reasonable expectation of being brought before the court. If the court does not have minimum contacts, the court may not exercise jurisdiction over the nonresident party.

If a nonresident  party is served with a suit, he may waive the right to challenge or intentionally agree to the exercise of the court's jurisdiction over the parties and their property by entering a general appearance in court.

If a nonresident party is served with a suit, the nonresident party may ignore the suit and allow for a default, hoping that when the case is brought up in his home state for enforcement that the local court will find that Texas does not have jurisdiction. Or a party can challenge the jurisdiction of the court by filing a special pleading in the Texascourt challenging the court’s jurisdiction.

If the Texas court finds that it does not have personal jurisdiction over one of the parties, the court may still grant a divorce and divide property located in Texas. However, it may not divide property located outside of Texas. In such cases, the court may grant the divorce but may not create an obligation or liability against the respondent or a judgment on matters that require personal jurisdiction.

Once a court exercises its jurisdiction over children in any proceeding, that court retains jurisdiction over the child until such time as the child turn eighteen(18) years of age, are emancipated as a minor, or another court accepts the jurisdiction over the child by operation of law until the case is transferred to another court.

Under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, a state's court will hear the case if any of the following is true:

1. The state is the child's home state.
2. The state had been the child's home state within six months before the case started, and the child was moved out of the state, and a parent or someone acting as a parent lives in the state.
3. It is in the best interest of the child for the court to take the case because the child and at least one parent have a significant connection with the state, and there exists in the state substantial evidence about the child's present and future care, protection, training, and relationships.
4. The child is present in the state and there is some kind of emergency, such as an abusive parent or neglect.
5. It appears that no other state will take the case and the court determines that it is in the best interest of the child that this court do so. The court generally will not take a case if the matter is already being heard elsewhere. The court will generally honor the custody decrees of another state.