He requested the court to grant the divorce and award each party the property he or she possessed. Yon argued the Kansas court had lacked personal and subject matter jurisdiction because none of the post-dismissal pleadings had been sent to her or her attorney by registered or certified mail. Robert responded that the court had jurisdiction in 1990 because Yon was properly served with the original petition. Also, in his view, the allocation of his military retirement pay was decided in the default divorce decree. We must initially decide the nature of the Kansas district court's jurisdiction at the time the default decree was entered.
Jurisdictional questions are questions of law over which appellate review is unlimited.
Personal jurisdiction is defined as the court's power over the defendant's person and is required before the court can enter an in personam judgment. Its acquisition has both constitutional and statutory dimensions. If the constitutional standard has been met, our statutes set out methods for acquiring personal jurisdiction through voluntary appearance or the issuance and service of process. Yon never lived in Kansas, in the marital relationship or otherwise. Moreover, despite Robert's assertions to the contrary, Yon never voluntarily appeared in the 1990 action.