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3/19/01

SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA
No. 00-C-1306

ANGELA JURADO Versus GEORGE HYOT BRASHEAR

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT, PARISH OF ST. TAMMANY

LEMMON, Justice The principal issue presently before the court in this child support action is whether the Louisiana court that originally issued the child support order retained continuing exclusive jurisdiction under La. Ch. Code arts. 1301.1-1308.2, after both parents and the children had relocated to other states, not only to enforce the Louisiana order, but also to modify that order.

Facts George Brashear and Angela Jurado are the parents of two children born out of wedlock in Louisiana in 1985 and 1988. Brashear never disputed paternity, but the parties did litigate custody and child support in 1995 in the district court in St. Tammany Parish. At the time of the litigation, Jurado and the children were residing in St. Tammany Parish, and Brashear had been residing in Mississippi since 1992. The district court rendered a consent judgment in 1995 granting Jurado sole custody of the two children, with reasonable visitation rights to Brashear, and ordering Brashear to pay child support, maintain medical insurance and pay certain medical expenses. For about two years thereafter, Brashear complied with the consent

judgment by making child support payments. In April 1997, Jurado and the children moved to Ohio. Six months later, Jurado filed a rule in St. Tammany Parish to increase child support based on an alleged increase in Brashear's income. Brashear, who was served in Mississippi pursuant to the Louisiana Long-Arm Statute, made a special appearance and excepted to the jurisdiction of the Louisiana court to increase child support. The trial court overruled the exception, and Brashear then filed a rule for change of custody. After a hearing, the trial court rendered a judgment increasing child support to $1,046 per month and awarding Jurado $3,344 in past due child support payments. The court also maintained sole custody with Jurado, but increased Brashear's visitation rights. The court of appeal affirmed. 98-2729 (La. App. 1st Cir. 4/17/00), 764 So. 2d 1066. The court held that the Louisiana court had continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to enforce the support order it had issued. The decision further held that the district court also retained continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify the support order, even though both parents and the children no longer resided in Louisiana, until that order was registered in another state for the purpose of obtaining a modification.1 This court granted Brashear's application for certiorari to address this issue of first impression, particularly as to jurisdiction to modify the order. 00-1306 (La. 6/23/00),765 So. 2d 345.

Without assignments of error, Brashear complained on appeal about the district court's jurisdiction over the custody order he had challenged after his exception to jurisdiction over the support order was overruled. Although the court of appeal addressed the custody jurisdiction issue, Brashear did not mention the issue in his application for certiorari. We accordingly do not address custody jurisdiction, but this should not be taken as approval of the ruling of the court of appeal on this issue. 2

1

Jurisdiction Generally Jurisdiction, a term with multiple meanings, primarily indicates the power to adjudicate. See La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 1 (defining jurisdiction as a court's legal power and authority to hear an action and grant relief). Subject matter jurisdiction, defined by La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 2 as "the legal power and authority of a court to hear and determine a particular class of actions or proceedings, based upon the object of the demand, the amount in dispute, or the value of the right asserted," is an essential element for every civil action. In every civil case in Louisiana, the court must have not only subject matter jurisdiction, but also either (1) personal jurisdiction under La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 6, (2) property jurisdiction under La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 8 or 9, or (3) status jurisdiction under La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 10. In the present case, although Brashear asserts the lack of subject matter jurisdiction, the district court in St. Tammany Parish clearly had subject matter jurisdiction under La. Const. art. V,

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Louisiana Law