If someone needs to be served with legal papers in Florida and they are not in the state, strict adherence to the long-arm statute is required. Each state has different rules and procedures for this, but they all must follow constitutional due process. In Florida, there are specific requirements for serving someone outside of the state, and they must be followed exactly. The person being served must have had some connection to Florida, such as living there or maintaining a home there, in order for the Florida courts to have jurisdiction over them in a divorce or support case. If you want to serve someone with legal papers outside of Florida, you have to have a good reason for doing so and include it in your official paperwork. If you don’t do that, the service will be considered invalid. The other person can then challenge the court’s jurisdiction over them and try to get the case dismissed. They can do this by providing evidence that they shouldn’t be subject to Florida’s laws. So, if you want to bring a case against someone in another state, you have to follow some specific rules and be able to prove why it’s okay to do so. When someone files a lawsuit in a different state, they have to prove that the court in that state has the authority to hear the case. If the person being sued says the court doesn’t have that authority, they have to provide evidence to support their claim. Then the person who filed the lawsuit has to also provide evidence to prove that the court does have authority to hear the case. The court will then review all the evidence and make a decision, and sometimes they might even have a small trial to figure it out. In Florida, a person who is being sued in a divorce case might have to attend a hearing, but they could be at a disadvantage if they testify in person. This is because the other person could possibly serve them with legal papers for another case at the same time. However, there are alternatives to testifying in person, such as through deposition or by phone.
Limited discovery (gathering information) is allowed to help the person being sued, but it should be limited and not too expensive. The person filing for divorce has to prove that the other person lived in Florida and intended to make it their permanent home. This can be proven in various ways, such as filing tax returns, applying for a homestead tax exemption, or filing a declaration of domicile. The burden of proof is on the person filing for divorce, and they have to prove it with clear and convincing evidence. The legal factors to determine a person’s residency for legal purposes include where they have their will, where they are registered to vote, where they have a driver’s license and car registration, their citizenship, and their immigration status if they are not a US citizen. These factors help to determine where a person officially lives, even if they own property in other places. Where does the party work, go to school, go to the doctor, and spend time with friends and family? Where does the party get important mail? If the party has kids, where do they live and go to school? How big and expensive is the Florida residence compared to other places the party lives? These questions help determine where someone really lives. Did the person selling their house in Florida take advantage of the tax law that allows them to claim it as their main residence? Where do they do most of their banking? How much time did they spend in Florida before selling the house? If they spent a lot of time there, it might mean they lived there permanently. If they only spent a little time there, it might mean they lived somewhere else permanently. If someone wants to sue you for divorce or custody of children in Florida, they have to make sure you have some connection to the state. If they don’t prove that you have that connection, the court won’t have the power to make any decisions. This is important because any decisions made without this power are not valid. So, if you ever need to go to court for something like this, make sure the person suing you has proof that you’re connected to Florida in some way. This column was written by Christopher A. Tiso, an associate at a law firm in Miami and Boca Raton. He is a member of the Family Law Section, which is chaired by Caroline K. Black and edited by Rana Holz. The column is about the principles of duty and service to the public, improving the justice system, and advancing the study of law.
Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/long-arm-jurisdiction-in-support-and-divorce-actionsthe-unwary-beware/
Leave a Reply