USA – INDIANA Law and Practice Contributed by: Drew Soshnick, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP
generally is addressed by residency and domi - cile and does not often become relevant. Contesting Jurisdiction and Staying Proceedings A party to divorce proceedings may contest jurisdiction for lack of subject matter jurisdiction or personal jurisdiction, but not simply to stop a divorce from occurring. A party may obtain a divorce without stating a fault ground. A party may request a stay of proceedings to pursue divorce proceedings in a foreign jurisdic - tion if there is a lack of subject matter or personal jurisdiction or a lack of jurisdiction over property or children’s issues. Also, a divorce proceeding may be stayed under certain circumstances if there is a bankruptcy proceeding pending. Stat - utory and common law precedent are a guide in each of these instances. As mentioned in 1.2 Choice of Jurisdiction , one party must be a resident of a county (or stationed at a US military installation within the county) in the State of Indiana for three consecutive months and of the State of Indiana for six con - secutive months for subject-matter jurisdiction over a divorce (Indiana Code Section 31-15-2-6). There also must be personal jurisdiction over the responding party (see Indiana Trial Rule 4.4(A)). A party to divorce proceedings involving prop - erty division may contest jurisdiction for lack of subject matter or personal jurisdiction or to allege that a court does not have jurisdiction over property. 2. Financial Proceedings 2.1 Choice of Jurisdiction
A party may request a stay of proceedings to pursue divorce property division proceedings in a foreign jurisdiction if there is a lack of subject matter or personal jurisdiction or if there is a lack of jurisdiction over property. Statutory and com - mon law precedent are a guide. Courts hear financial claims after a foreign divorce court enters property orders, generally, to enforce foreign orders. Courts do not typi - cally revisit the foreign orders, but there can be more scrutiny given to orders from non-Hague Convention countries. 2.2 Service and Process See 1.1 Grounds, Timeline, Services and Pro- cess (Process and Service). 2.3 Division of Assets Marital Property By statute, marital “property” is defined as all assets (and liabilities, per case law interpreting the definition of marital property) of either party or both parties, including: • a present right to withdraw pension or retire - ment benefits; • the right to receive pension or retirement ben - efits that are not forfeited upon termination of employment or are vested (as defined by IRC Section 411), but that are payable after divorce; and • the right to receive disposable retired or retainer pay (as defined by 10 United States Code (USC) 1408(a)) acquired during the mar - riage that is or may be payable after divorce (Indiana Code Section 31-9-2-98). Just and Reasonable Division Marital property is to be divided in a just and reasonable manner, and can be divided in kind, by setting aside the property of one party to
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