WomensLaw serves and supports all survivors, no matter their sex or gender.

Legal Information

Court System Basics

If the cause of the legal action occurred in the state, would a court in that state have personal jurisdiction?

The “cause of action” basically means the reason that you are suing someone. If the cause of action happened in the state where you are trying to get personal jurisdiction over the other party, this is one way for the court to get personal jurisdiction. For example, let’s say you live in Virginia and your partner lives in Florida. If your partner assaulted you in Virginia while visiting you, then Virginia would have jurisdiction over you and your out of state partner to hear a court case related to that assault.

© 2008–2024 WomensLaw.org is a project of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, Inc. All rights reserved. This website is funded in part through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). NNEDV is a 501©(3) non-profit organization; EIN 52-1973408.