The second way Georgia’s long-arm statute reaches an out-of-state spouse is that the spouse lived in Georgia before the case was filed.
What the Statute Requires
OCGA 9-10-91(5) allows a Georgia court to exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident who “resided in this state preceding the commencement of the action, whether cohabiting during that time or not.” That last phrase matters. Whether the two of you were living together during the Georgia years does not change the answer.
Residence Is Not the Same as Domicile
Residence is the easier standard of the two. In Cooke v. Cooke, 277 Ga. 731 (2004), the Georgia Supreme Court held that “[r]esidency, of course, refers to living in a particular locality and requires only that one be bodily present and inhabiting that locale.” The wife there had lived in Fulton County from 1992 until at least 1997 before returning to Great Britain, and that alone placed her “within the ambit of our domestic relations long-arm statute.”
The statute sets no deadline on how long ago the Georgia residence was. But the passage of time can still matter to the separate constitutional question of minimum contacts.
A Spouse Who Never Lived Here
By contrast, in Riersgard v. Morton, 267 Ga. 451 (1997), a mother living in Georgia sought to domesticate a Virginia divorce decree and hold the father in contempt for unpaid child support. He had been served in Nevada, where he lived, and had never resided in or owned property in Georgia. The Georgia Supreme Court held that “jurisdiction must fail” and set the contempt judgment aside. The court added that interstate phone calls and letters to the children are not enough on their own.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!