Legal Question in Family Law in New York
Divorce that is dragging out
My Husband and I have not lived together for 15 months. I served him with Divorce paperwork on 27 Feb 03 from the state of TN (where we were married and he is a resident). I am active duty military and currently live overseas, we were both here at the time of the separation. I still maintain custody of our property. I chose TN because I thought my husband would not fight jurisdiction. He is fighting the county that I filed in b/c neither of us live there. He is still not willing to agree to divorce unless his agregious terms are met in regards to property and money. I am coming to the point I am ready to dismiss my complaint of divorce and try to re-file in my state of residence, NY. Is this a viable option and would it help our divorce proceedings progress faster?
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Divorce that is dragging out
This showed up as a question on New York, but I can answer it very easily.
Family Law has been standardized in the United States so the law is the same in every state.
You filed in the correct state. Tennessee is the state with jurisdiction in this case. You can only use NY if you lived in NY with him.
He may be questioning not the state, but the county within TN. He can do this, but he may not be successful.
First, did you live with him in the county where you filed?
Second, if not, do you have any reason to choose this county over one in which he lives?
You may have a right to file an action in the regular TN court in any county and he can ask to have it moved to a more convenient county. He would do this by a motion for a 'change in venue'. Do you care?
If you do, then you may defend this by a showing o0f how it would be very inconvenient to you to change venue (county).
Be reassured, you do not need to be a current resident of TN to get a divorce there.
You are welcome to a consultation at no fee at my offices at 42 West 44th Street (near Times Square). Please call for an appointment first (646) 591-5786.
TN is the right state.
Unless you have been a resident of NY for two years you cannot start a divorce action here.
Also if you want the marital property to be divided you have to stay in TN as NY will not have jurisdiction over your husband for that purpose.
Re: Divorce that is dragging out
If you are a legal resident of NY, then it appears both TN and NY have concurrent jurisdiction over the issue of the marriage.
However, the most appropriate place for filing is the state where the property is or where the children, if any, reside. Otherwise you will have what was previously said to be a "bifurcated"
divorce. Which essentially requires two separate proceedings. One in the state the marriage dissolution iS affected and one in the state where the property "OF THE MARRIAGE" is located.
GOOD LUCK.
PHROSKA L. MCALISTER, ESQ.
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