Legal Question in Family Law in California

There are two types of jurisdiction that apply to your case. The first, which every attorney learns in law school in Civil Procedure is known as In Personam Jurisdiction. That jurisdiction involves the court's jurisdiction over a person, in this case, your husband, who is called the respondent. California courts can exercise jurisdiction over nonresident defendants and respondents on any basis not inconsistent with the United States Consitution.

That is the kind of jurisdiction that you are discussing in your question. It involves minimum contacts with the forum state, and reasonableness. A complete discussion of this doctrine is too long to delve into in this forum. Challenges to personal jurisdiction, however, are not raised by the court, but by the nonresident defendant or respondent who has been served papers.

The other type of jurisdiction is what is at issue. In California, a judgment of dissolution of marriage may not be entered unless one of the parties to the marriage has been a resident of this state for six months and of the county in which the proceeding is filed for three months next preceding the filing of the petition.

If I were you, I would identify the specific jurisdictional question that the court is raising. It would appear to me that the court does not think they have jurisdiction because you recently moved here, and your husband is not a resident.