USA – ARKANSAS Law and Practice Contributed by: Kathleen Egan, Aaron Bundy and Grace Ann Green, Bundy
prong is sufficient to establish a party’s residency in Arkansas. • Any person domiciled in the State of Arkansas – domicile comprises an act coupled with an intent. A domicile is acquired by physical presence at a place coinciding with the state of mind (ie, intent) of regarding the place as a permanent home. A domicile arises instantaneously when these two facts occur. Every person must have one domicile but can have no more than one domicile, regard ‑ less of how many residences a person may have at any given time. A domicile, once established, continues until a new domicile of choice is legally established. An established domicile does not end by lack of physical presence alone nor by mental intent alone. The old domicile must be abandoned with the intention not to return to it. If one moves to a new location but intends to stay there only for a limited period of time (no matter how long), the domicile does not become the new location but rather remains unchanged. • Any person who maintains a permanent place of abode within Arkansas and spends in the aggre ‑ gate more than six months of the year within Arkansas – place of abode means a place where a person has established a permanent home, even though such person may be absent therefrom for a long period of time. A temporary home or resi ‑ dence would not be considered a place of abode, as there must be at least some degree of perma ‑ nence. In addition, a person must actually spend more than six months of the tax year in Arkansas to fall within the scope of this provision. Place of abode and residence are considered to mean roughly the same thing. However, domicile and residence are not considered to be synonymous. Residence denotes only an act (the act of residing), whereas domicile denotes an act (the act of resid ‑ ing) coupled with the intent that the residence be a permanent home. The distinction between domi ‑ cile and place of abode is that, while a person can have several homes (or places of abode) at one time, only one of those homes can be the person’s domicile. The home that the person intends or considers to be their permanent home (as in home base) would be the domicile.
• In situations where it is not clear if the requirements either of domicile or place of abode have been met, a residency determination can only be made after thoroughly reviewing the facts on a case-by- case basis. If a party believes jurisdiction does not lie within the county in which the case was filed, that party is free to contest jurisdiction under Section 9-12-303 of the Arkansas Code Annotated. A party to a matter involving child custody may request a stay in certain circumstances. A trial court’s decision on a motion to stay is within the court’s sound discre ‑ tion. Jurisdiction for actions for alimony or spousal sup ‑ port in Arkansas is governed under Section 9-12-303 of the Arkansas Code Annotated, just as in divorce actions. If a party believes jurisdiction does not lie within the county in which the case was filed, that party is free to contest jurisdiction under Section 9-12- 303 of the Arkansas Code Annotated. A financial support proceeding under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act may be stayed if there is a simultaneous proceeding in another court upon the timely, proper challenge of jurisdiction in Arkansas. Arkansas courts may hear financial claims after a for ‑ eign divorce if the foreign divorce court did not have personal jurisdiction over the requesting spouse. 2.2 Service and Process in Financial Proceedings Service and process in financial proceedings are the same as those outlined for divorce actions in 1.1 Grounds, Timeline, Service and Process . 2.3 Division of Assets Property division in the event of divorce is governed by a statute – namely, Section 9-12-315 of the Arkansas Code Annotated. It provides that all marital property 2. Financial Proceedings 2.1 Choice of Jurisdiction in Financial Proceedings
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