What is Personal Jurisdiction in a State Court?

Personal jurisdiction means that a court has the legal authority to exercise its authority over a person or individual.

This involves Service of Process.

What is Service of Process?

Service of process means providing an individual with a summons (or other authorized methods of notification), which gives notice to the individual that she is being called before the court.

How does a State Court Achieve personal Jurisdiction over an Individual?

Personal jurisdiction is obtained through Service of Process.

Personal jurisdiction in state court is governed by the individual state’s law concerning service of process.

Service of process must generally take place (the summons must be delivered) while the defendant is physically present within that state.

The exception to this rule is that every state has a law, known as a long-arm statute, allowing service of process on defendants outside of the state.

• Relevant Law: As an example, see New York’s Long-arm Statute, NY CPLR 302 (2012).
• Note: There are limited circumstances where a state will allow a court to exercise jurisdiction over an individual without delivering a summons. For example, a court may exercise jurisdiction over an individual in a family matter (such a divorce), if that individual is a resident of the state and cannot be found after diligent search. Another situation is that a court may exercise jurisdiction over an individual’s real estate that is located in the state without delivering a summons to that individual if all attempts to locate the individual fail and notice is posted on the property.