Divorce Tossed When Spouse Lived in TN Less Than Six Months

Tennessee case summary on subject matter jurisdiction in divorce.

Thomas John Pitera v. Samantha Pitera

Divorce Tossed When Spouse Lived in TN Less Than Six Months

The husband and wife in this Sullivan County, Tennessee, case were married in Connecticut in 2007 and had one adopted child.  In 2018, the parties agreed that the wife would move to Tennessee and would have full custody.  She made the move in December of that year.  In May, she filed for divorce in Tennessee, and a copy of the suit was served upon the husband in Connecticut.  The complaint stated that both spouses had been residents of Tennessee for more than six months prior to the complaint.  The husband, however, had never set foot in the state. 

The husband filed a motion to dismiss, but failed to appear at the hearing.  The trial court entered a final decree, and the husband appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  He alleged that the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction.

The appeals court, however, determined that it must first consider the issue of whether the trial court had subject matter jurisdiction, even though the issue was not raised on appeal.  It noted that under the relevant statute, the plaintiff or the defendant must have resided in the state for six months preceding the filing of the complaint.  From statements in the wife’s appellate brief, the appeals court held that this test had not been met.

The wife’s brief stated that she left Connecticut on December 12 and moved to Tennessee on December 18.  She filed the complaint on May 21, which was less than six months after moving to the state.  For this reason, the appeals court concluded that the lower court lacked subject matter jurisdiction.

For this reason, the appeals court vacated the lower court’s judgment and dismissed the case.

No. E2020-00063-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 6,  2020).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see The Tennessee Divorce Process: How Divorces Work Start to Finish.