// Captures the children var children = $("form:eq(1)").children(); // Removes the form $("form:eq(1)").remove(); // append the child elements back into the DOM $("#fillDiv").append(children); // grab the child nodes var children = $('#badForm').children(); // or var children = $('#badForm > *'); // move them to the body $(body).append(children); // remove the form $('#badForm').remove(); $.ajax({ type: "get", url: "url", data: , cache: false, success: function(data){ } }); $(data).find('#whatYouNeed').appendTo('#whereYouNeed')