Donaldson v. Donaldson

BURNETT, Judge.

This is a divorce case. The question presented is whether a magistrate correctly exercised personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant. The district court, acting in an appellate capacity, held that the magistrate lacked such jurisdiction. We agree with the district court.

The following facts are not in dispute. Larry Donaldson, a resident of California, sought and obtained in that state an interlocutory decree dissolving his marriage to Janice Donaldson, who had moved to Idaho several years earlier. The California decree awarded the wife custody of a child living with…