Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial ProcedureRelease 119-102
§1631 Transfer to Cure Want of Jurisdiction
Title 28 › PART IV — JURISDICTION AND VENUE › CHAPTER 99 — GENERAL PROVISIONS › § 1631
Summary
If a court finds it cannot hear a civil case or an appeal (including petitions to review agency actions), it must, if it is fair, transfer the case to a court that could have taken it when it was filed. Tax cases may be sent to the United States Tax Court. The case then proceeds as if filed in the new court on the filing date.
Full Legal Text
Title 28, §1631
Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Whenever a civil action is filed in a court as defined in section 610 of this title or an appeal, including a petition for review of administrative action, is noticed for or filed with such a court and that court finds that there is a want of jurisdiction, the court shall, if it is in the interest of justice, transfer such action or appeal to any other such court (or, for cases within the jurisdiction of the United States Tax Court, to that court) in which the action or appeal could have been brought at the time it was filed or noticed, and the action or appeal shall proceed as if it had been filed in or noticed for the court to which it is transferred on the date upon which it was actually filed in or noticed for the court from which it is transferred.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2018—Pub. L. 115–332 inserted “(or, for cases within the jurisdiction of the United States Tax Court, to that court)” after “any other such court”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
Section effective Oct. 1, 1982, see section 402 of Pub. L. 97–164, set out as an
Effective Date
of 1982 Amendment note under section 171 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
28 U.S.C. § 1631
Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102