California Resident Received Civil Summons and Complaint from spouse Living in NC

My spouse filed a complaint in NC civil court where I previously resided with him. I received the Summons and Complaint where the Plaintiff is requesting divorce from bed and board by mail. He still lives in NC. I have been in California for over one year. I’d like to check the progress on this case to see if any default judgment has been entered., I never answered the complaint because I do not believe the NC Court has Personal Jurisdiction over me as we only lived in NC for one year and were married in California where we lived for three years before moving there. I do not think it would be fair to have me defend a divorce action from California where the majority of our marriage took place.

NC will have subject matter jurisdiction if your spouse has lived in NC for the 6 months prior to filing the court action. NC likely has personal jurisdiction as well.

If you have not received any paperwork at the address in which you were served, then most likely no court dates have been set and no orders or judgments have been entered. The clerk of court’s office in the county in which the action was filed will have all of that information.


Anna Ayscue

Attorney with Rosen Law Firm Cary • Chapel Hill • Durham • Raleigh • Wake Forest

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Thank You! I will check with the court clerk by phone or mail. Our court systems and websites are very different.