If you have a legal dispute, you cannot simply go to any court and file a claim. There is proper protocol to follow. One primary consideration before filing a claim is jurisdiction.
What is jurisdiction?
The term jurisdiction essentially refers to a court’s ability to govern over a legal dispute. Courts can generally only decide and rule on cases that fall within certain parameters. Those parameters take into consideration the nature of the dispute, the amount in controversy, and the location. A recent example involves a Texas man with a dispute over a Louisiana property.
What happens if you file a claim in the wrong court?
In this case, the dispute involved a real estate matter. A property owner died and passed along his property to his sons. A dispute resulted and the son that received the estate, a Texas man, filed a petition with the court to help resolve the matter.
Part of the issue was the fact the land in question was located in another state. In some situations, Texas courts can have jurisdiction over a dispute involving land in another state. Previous cases have allowed such disputes to move forward. However, the court has stated that if the primary purpose for the claim involves a title for an out-of-state property, the Texas court does not have jurisdiction. Upon review of the dispute, the court determined the issue focused on the title of the property and that the court did not have jurisdiction.
In this situation, the case will likely need to progress using another court that has jurisdiction over the matter.
This result provides an example of the complex nature of these cases. A failure to follow proper protocol can result in wasted time and expense. As a result, it is wise to seek legal counsel experienced in these matters to mitigate the risk of such mistakes.
