Bases for jurisdiction over nonresident

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  • (a) In a proceeding to establish or enforce a support order or to determine parentage of a child, a tribunal of the Virgin Islands may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident individual or the individual’s guardian or conservator if:

    • (1) the individual is personally served with a summons within the Virgin Islands;

    • (2) the individual submits to the jurisdiction of the Virgin Islands by consent in a record, by entering a general appearance, or by filing a responsive document having the effect of waiving any contest to personal jurisdiction;

    • (3) the individual resided with the child in the Virgin Islands;

    • (4) the individual resided in the Virgin Islands and provided prenatal expenses or support for the child;

    • (5) the child resides in the Virgin Islands as a result of the acts or directives of the individual;

    • (6) the individual engaged in sexual intercourse in the Virgin Islands and the child may have been conceived by that act of intercourse;

    • (7) the individual asserted parentage of a child in the record of acknowledgements of paternity maintained by the Department of Heath Office of Vital Statistics pursuant to section 292(c) of this title; or

    • (8) there is any other basis consistent with the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands and the Constitution of the United States for the exercise of personal jurisdiction.

  • (b) The bases of personal jurisdiction set forth in subsection (a) or in any other law of the Virgin Islands may not be used to acquire personal jurisdiction for a tribunal of the Virgin Islands to modify a child-support order of another state unless the requirements of section 442 are met, or, in the case of a foreign support order, unless the requirements of section 445a are met.


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