Rule 82.Jurisdiction and Venue Unaffected.
Current through February 2024 · Last verified September 12, 2026
Full Text of Rule 82
Amendment History
Rhode Island does not publish a per-rule amendment history inside the compiled rules text reproduced here. The text above is verified current through the source’s own February 2024 printing; for the underlying adopting orders and any later amendments, see the Rhode Island Judiciary’s compiled rules page.
Plain-English Summary
Rule 82 is a single sentence with a narrow job. These rules describe how a case moves. They do not decide what the Family Court may hear, or where a case belongs. Nothing in them may be read to widen the court's reach or to narrow it.
That matters when a rule seems to hand you something. A rule that names a remedy tells you the steps for seeking it; it does not tell you that this court can grant it in your case. Authority over the subject, and the proper place for the action, come from the law that creates the court's power, and an argument about either has to rest there.
Read Rule 82 next to Rule 81. Rule 81 stretches these rules to cover more proceedings, and Rule 82 confirms that stretching the procedure changes nothing about what the Family Court may decide in them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Family Court rule give the court power over a case it could not otherwise hear?
No. Rule 82 says these rules are not construed to extend the court's jurisdiction. A procedural rule tells you how to take a step, not whether this court may decide the matter.
Does Rule 82 tell me which court to file in?
It does not. Rule 82 leaves venue where it found it, so the answer comes from the law that fixes venue rather than from these rules.
Does Rule 82 limit what the Family Court can hear?
No. The rule cuts both ways: these rules are not construed to extend the court's jurisdiction or to limit it. A party cannot use a procedural rule to shrink the court's authority any more than to enlarge it.
Is Rule 82 something a party raises or pleads?
No. It is a direction about how the rest of the rules are read, not a step a party takes or a defense a party asserts.
Rule 81 extends the rules to more proceedings, so does the court gain jurisdiction over them?
No. Rule 81 adds proceedings to the list these rules govern, which settles the procedure to be used in them. Whether the Family Court may decide such a matter comes from the law that grants the court its power.