Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts

Re: divorce

If there is a pending divorce in MA then MA would have jurisdiction over the case and you should not be permitted to file in CA. I am unsure how a divorce could be granted without the knowlegde of one party, unless it was by publication. Publication is only allowed if you are unable to locate a parties residence. I would suggest asking the question to a CA lawyer as this is only based on MA law. A divorce is based on where the parties reside and last lived together.

Re: divorce

Assuming the case is still open MA and at the time of filing the spouse still lived here, then jurisdiction should remain here.

For CA to have jurisdiction at all, you would have had to have been married there or lived there as husband and wife for a minimum period and that would have to be relatively recently.

For your husband to get a Divorce in CA he still has to serve you and the court will have to give you notice of same.

Re: divorce

There would definitely seem to be some hanky-panky if this occurred. The California courts would probably vacate their action if they knew of it, because the issues were already joined in a Court properly situated to deal with the matter. As Attorney Lavallee said, however, you need a California attorney's advice on how to approach this.

This is not to agree with the suggestion that ONLY Massachusetts could have jurisdiction. Had there been NO active Massachusetts case, and had the party who moved to California met that state's residency requirement (usually six months or, like Massachusetts, a year), the divorce could be sought in California. However, California might not be able to deal with all issues (e.g., if there were children here in Massachusetts). If there was NO active Massachusetts. When a married person moves to a state, she or he brings the marriage with them, even if the other spouse stays behind. The "waiting" period" serves the Constitutional purpose of making sure that people don't move just to take advantage of another state's laws.

Now you know more than you wanted to know about the Constitutional aspect of interstate divorce jurisdiction.