{"data":{"id":"us-dc/d.c.-code-11-501","jurisdiction":"us-dc","citation":"D.C. Code § 11-501","heading":"Civil jurisdiction.","body":"In addition to its jurisdiction as a United States district court and any other jurisdiction conferred on it by law, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia has jurisdiction of the following:\n\n(1)\nAny civil action or other matter begun in the court before the effective date of the District of Columbia Court Reorganization Act of 1970 other than any matter over which the Superior Court of the District of Columbia takes jurisdiction under section 11-921(a)(4)(G) or 11-921(a)(5)(B).\n\n(2)\nDuring the eighteen-month period beginning on such effective date, any civil action or other matter which is brought under —\n(A)\nChapter 3 of Title 21 (relating to gifts to minors);\n(B)\nChapter 5 of Title 21 (relating to hospitalization of the mentally ill);\n(C)\nChapter 7 of Title 21 (relating to property of the mentally ill);\n(D)\nChapter 11 of Title 21 (relating to commitment and maintenance of substantially retarded persons);\n(E)\nChapter 13 of Title 21 (relating to appointment of committees for alcoholics and addicts) [repealed]; or\n(F)\nChapter 15 of Title 21 (relating to appointment of conservators) [repealed].\n\n(3)\nDuring the thirty-month period beginning on such effective date, any civil action or other matter —\n(A)\nwhich is brought under Chapter 29 of Title 16 (relating to partition and assignment of dower);\n(B)\nwhich would have been within the jurisdiction of the Orphans Court of Washington County, District of Columbia, before June 21, 1870;\n(C)\nrelating to the execution or validity of wills devising real property within the District of Columbia, and of wills and testaments properly presented for probate in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and the admission to probate and recording of those wills;\n(D)\nrelating to the proof of wills of either personal or real property and the revocation of probate of wills for cause;\n(E)\ninvolving the granting and revocation for cause of letters testamentary, letters of administration, letters ad colligendum and letters of guardianship, and the appointment of successors to persons whose letters have been revoked;\n(F)\ninvolving the hearing, examination, and issuance of decrees upon accounts, claims, and demands existing between executors or administrators and legatees or persons entitled to a distributive share of an intestate estate, or between wards and their guardians;\n(G)\ninvolving the enforcement of the rendition of inventories and accounts by executors, administrators, collectors, guardians, and trustees required to account to the court;\n(H)\ninvolving the enforcement of distribution of estates by executors and administrators and the payment or delivery by guardians of money or property belonging to their wards; or\n(I)\notherwise within the probate jurisdiction of the court on the day before such effective date.\n\n(4)\nAny civil action (other than a matter over which the Superior Court of the District of Columbia has jurisdiction under paragraph (3) or (4) of section 11-921(a)) begun in the court during the thirty-month period beginning on such effective date wherein the amount in controversy exceeds $50,000.","path":["Title 11. Organization and Jurisdiction of the Courts. [Enacted title]","Chapter 5. United States District Court for the District of Columbia.","Subchapter I. Jurisdiction."],"source_url":"https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/11-501","current_through":"2026-08-20 (D.C. Law 26-175)","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-29T05:44:07Z","sha256":"21a520924a0128601ae9e5df7ea3164b445e1a0e7e67b227f683bacdb0011b98","source_id":"us-dc","stale":false,"prev":"us-dc/d.c.-code-11-301","next":"us-dc/d.c.-code-11-502"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}