What’s something that’s worse than
divorce? The prospect of two divorces in two different countries. Red tape,
bureaucracy, money, cultural differences, travel are some of the many problems
faced by Americans facing a divorce in a second country.
While this may seem like a problem that
affects only a small group, the fact is many may one day encounter such a
predicament. If you’re a dual citizen, you or your spouse has been living
abroad, you married a citizen of another country or your spouse fled the
country with the kids, you too might have to go through the legal system of
another country to obtain a divorce.
Given the increasing interconnectedness
of the world, this is a problem that is affecting more and more people.
Parental kidnappings make the headlines regularly and more and more parents are
willing to fight to get the kids back in the U.S.
If you are facing a possible foreign
divorce the first question to content with is where will it be easiest for you
to get a divorce? Just because you or your spouse is American, that does not
mean that you can file in the U.S., especially if you live abroad. The issue is
not where you were born, but where you are currently living that determines
which court has jurisdiction.
Though exceptions abound, a good rule of
thumb is that divorce is easier to manage in the U.S. and Europe as laws tend
to value fairness and equality between the parties. Laws in the Middle East and
parts of Africa can be especially hard on women, making it almost impossible
for mother’s to gain custody of the kids. Even this conversation about where
you will divorce relies on the assumption that you and your spouse agree about
where to file. If you don’t, the process becomes a race as whoever files first
determines where the divorce will take place.
Property division can be another tricky
issue when divorcing from different countries as property is often spread
across the globe. The way it works is similar to children, the court with
jurisdiction has the authority to given property to whichever party it desires,
no matter what country the property is located in. If a spouse is overseas with
the property and refuses to give it up, you are left with two choices: hoping
that the spouse hands over the goods or showing up in their country and trying
to use their native court system to force them to release the property.
If you find yourself facing the prospect
of divorce, contact an experienced Ohio family law attorney who can help guide you through the
difficult process. Count on the expertise of Twinsburg family law attorney Carol
L. Gasper.
Source:
“Divorce
in two countries is double the trouble,” by Geoff Williams, published
at Reuters.com.
See
Our Related Blog Posts:
No comments:
Post a Comment