Where can I file?

[Alaresident1]

Lee

Got married a little over a year ago to a SGT in the Army and moved to Clarksville, TN from Huntsville, AL where I had been a resident all my life.  Found out my husband was cheating on me so I was able to transfer back to my former job in Huntsville and am now staying with my Dad and my children at his home in Madison County, Alabama.  I lived in TN for over a year but would like to file for divorce in Alabama.  Must I wait until I have lived here again for 6 months, even though I lived here prior for 31 years???  Or ust I file in TN although I no longer live there?   Also we have no community property, only a joint savings account of which I have already removed my half of the money, about $8,000.  The only things I want are 1.  a divorce, and 2. Full legal and physical custody of 18 month old son, and 3. reasonable child support.  What should I do?  Thanks for any advice and thanks for having this web-site to help people.

[Lee Borden]

If you stopped being a bona fide legal resident of Alabama for even one day, you must have lived in Alabama for six months before filing there. That gets you subject matter jurisdiction but may not get you personal jurisdiction. To get personal jurisdiction, you must do one of the following: (1) get your husband's consent, (2) serve your husband while he's physically present in Alabama, or (3) prove that he has a pattern of contact with Alabama called "minimum contacts." That's things like his spending time here, maintaining property here, receiving income from here, etc.

You know you can file in TN. If it's important to you to file in AL, just make sure you and your lawyer think through jurisdiction before you file.