Post-Filing Domicile Shift
Diane Dawson files a diversity suit in federal court while domiciled in State X. Two weeks later she moves permanently to State Y. The court retains subject matter jurisdiction because diversity is measured at filing.
Also known as: domiciles · domiciled · domiciling · domicil · domiciliary · domiciliate · domiciliation · domicilium · domicellus · legal residence · habitual residence
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A person's true, fixed, principal, and permanent home to which the person intends to return and remain indefinitely. Physical presence in a state combined with that intent establishes the domicile.
Diane Dawson files a diversity suit in federal court while domiciled in State X. Two weeks later she moves permanently to State Y. The court retains subject matter jurisdiction because diversity is measured at filing.
Denise Donovan, a Canadian citizen lawfully admitted for permanent residence, has been domiciled in State A for five years. She sues a State A citizen in federal court. The action is dismissed for lack of diversity under the permanent-resident exception.
Delilah Duran and Dwight Dorsey, both domiciled in State X, convey land located in State Y. The court applies its own procedural rules but looks to the law selected under choice-of-law principles for capacity issues.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Doris Duffy is domiciled in the Northern District of State V. She is sued there. Venue is proper because a natural person resides for venue purposes in the district of her domicile.
Deanna Davenport has been domiciled in State A for more than one year. She files for divorce in State A. The court has subject matter jurisdiction over the marriage dissolution.
Dwight Dorsey maintains his domicile in Virginia for more than one year before filing. He commences a divorce action there. The Virginia court possesses jurisdiction to dissolve the marriage.
Domicile requires physical presence in the state coupled with the intent to remain there indefinitely. A person may have multiple residences but only one domicile at a time.
Diversity of citizenship is determined at the time the suit is filed. Subsequent changes in domicile do not destroy jurisdiction once it has attached.
For venue purposes a natural person resides in the judicial district in which that person is domiciled.
Yes. Domicile in the state is a sufficient basis for a court to exercise general personal jurisdiction over an absent defendant.
…of a foreign nation, because to some limited extent one's property and affairs then become subject to the laws of the nation of domicile of the corporation. As a matter of international law, that suggestion might be acceptable because a foreign investment is sufficiently unusual to make it appropriate to require the investor…