Cleveland v. Cleveland
Cleveland v. Cleveland
Opinion of the Court
We affirm the trial court’s grant of relief under rule 1.540(b),
The trial court had subject matter jurisdiction to dissolve the parties’ marriage because it is undisputed that the husband alleged and met the residence requirements of section 61.021,
The trial court also had subject matter jurisdiction to provide for custody of the children under the UCCJA Section 61.1308(l)(a),
“state in which the child, immediately preceding the time involved, lived with his or her parents, a parent, or a person acting as parent for at least 6 consecutive months....”
§ 61.1306(5), Fla. Stat. (1995). It is uncon-troverted that the child had been living with the father in Florida for more than 6 months before he filed the dissolution of marriage petition. Personal jurisdiction is not required to make an out-of-state parent a party to a custody ease in which the Florida court has subject matter jurisdiction. Warfield v. Warfield, 661 So.2d 924, 925-26 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995), rev. denied, 669 So.2d 252 (Fla.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 117 S.Ct. 59, 136 L.Ed.2d 21 (1996); Balestrieri v. Maliska, 622 So.2d 561 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993). Hence, the finding that the trial court never obtained personal jurisdiction over the wife did not render the custody provision in the final judgment void.
REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR CONSISTENT PROCEEDINGS.
.See Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.540(b)(4) ("The motion shall be made within a reasonable time, and for reasons (1), (2), and (3) not more than 1 year after the judgment, decree, order, or proceeding was entered or taken.”). The trial court implicitly found that the mother’s motion was made within a reasonable time, given her particular circumstances.
. See § 61.021, Fla. Stat. (1995) ("To obtain a dissolution of marriage, one of the parties to the marriage must reside 6 months in the state before the filing of the petition.”).
. See § 61.1308(l)(a), Fla. Stat. (1995).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.