Missouri Laws 452.371 – Declining jurisdiction in a modification proceeding, when
1. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 1 of section 452.455 or subsection 6 of section 452.370 to the contrary, the court with jurisdiction may decline to exercise jurisdiction in any modification proceeding if such court finds that exercise of its jurisdiction would be clearly inconvenient to either party to the proceeding. The court shall consider the following factors in determining whether exercise of its jurisdiction would be clearly inconvenient:
(1) Place of residence of the parties;
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 452.371
- Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Place of residence: means the place where the family of any person permanently resides in this state, and the place where any person having no family generally lodges. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
- Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
(2) Location of witnesses; and
(3) The availability to either party of another more convenient court with jurisdiction.
2. A finding that a court is a clearly inconvenient forum pursuant to subsection 1 of this section may be made on the court’s own motion or on the motion of either party to the proceeding.
3. If the court finds that it is an inconvenient forum and a court of another county is a more appropriate forum, and such court will accept jurisdiction of the case, the original court shall order a change of venue to the more appropriate forum and state the reasons for such change. The clerk shall transmit the original papers with a transcript of all docket entries to the clerk of the court to which the removal is ordered or the court may order the clerk to prepare a full transcript of the record and proceeding in the case, and transmit the same, duly certified with all the original papers in the civil action but not forming part of the record to the clerk of the court to which the removal is ordered.