Case Title: State Ex Rel. Knowles v. Elkhart Circuit Court

Citation: 268 N.E.2d 79

Docket Number: 271S29

State: indiana

Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Date: 1971-04-05T00:00:00Z

Document:
268 N.E.2d 79 (1971)
STATE of Indiana On the Relation of Thomas Michael Knowles
v.
ELKHART CIRCUIT COURT, Honorable Aldo J. Simpson, As Judge of the Elkhart Circuit Court and Woody L. Caton, Clerk of the Elkhart Circuit Court.
No. 271S29.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
April 5, 1971.
Rasor, Harris, Garrard & Lemon, Warsaw, for relator.
PER CURIAM.
The relator has petitioned for a writ of prohibition against the respondent Elkhart Circuit Court. This action arises out of a divorce case filed in Elkhart Circuit Court in which Joyce E. Knowles states that she is a resident of Kosciusko County, State of Indiana for more than six (6) months prior to the filing of her complaint. The relator, Thomas Michael Knowles, also states that he is a resident of Kosciusko County, State of Indiana. The petition for a writ of prohibition urges for ground thereof that the Elkhart Circuit Court does not have jurisdiction to entertain the divorce proceedings relying on the divorce statute, Burns' Ind. Stat. Ann. § 3-1203 fixing the resident requirements in a divorce proceeding.
The respondent judge has filed no response or brief but states that he relies upon the recently adopted rules of this Court for his denial of the motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.
However, since the enactment of that statute, new rules of trial procedure have been enacted by the Indiana General Assembly and approved by this Court.
TR. 75 in part states:
Paragraph (B) also states:
and Paragraph (D) also states:
From this it becomes apparent by very clear language that although a case including divorce proceedings may be filed in the wrong county, it is not a jurisdictional matter that deprives the court of the right to entertain the subject matter. The remedy of the aggrieved party is to petition the trial court for a removal of the cause to the proper county. This the petitioner herein has not done. We therefore find no merit to the relator's petition for a writ of prohibition and the same is denied.