U.S. divorce judgement is valid in India?

[thinkwell]

US divorce may or maynot be valid in India depending upon whether it was mutual, contested or ex-party. India does not respect US/foreign divorces unless the grounds and proceedings are compliant with the Indian law. India is not a party to the Hague Convention or Private International Law. You may need to also get it validated in India. You need to be concerned only if the ex spouse is vindictive. Even people who got contested divorce in US have been later jailed and harassed using false allegations under section 498a. Check out for stories on how simple divorces got transformed into multi-year battles. The site provides help to people who are facing harrassment due to gender biased laws in India.

Please don't follow the attorney's advice blindly. Make sure that the attorney has your best interests in mind.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advise.

[vikq]

Hi
Since US divorce is valid in India if mutually contested, and dont have any issues that needs mediation or attorneys' can no-fault divorce be filed??? do the couple have to stay seperately for 18 months or cna they file on the grounds of irreconsilable differences?? and the divorce has to be shown at the place where the marraige certificate is obtained and get that cancelled right?

Please let me know.

[txh1b]

Divorce can be obtained at any county where the couple has maintained residence based on the state law. It could be 90 days preceeding the filing of the divorce that the people should have resided in the county.

Each state has a different law for divorce and you need to talk to a family law attorney to discuss various options. For example, in some states irreconcilable differences require the couple to have lived separately for 6 months while attorneys use mental torture as the reason to get around the 6 months rule for divorce involving mutual consent.

There is no need to do anything regarding the marriage/divorce at the place of marriage AFAIK.

[gshcandyman]

I am a U.S. citizen, originally from India; when I got married, I was an Indian citizen. I would like to file for divorce now, and am curious whether I can really do it from the U.S., as suggested by some of the posts in this thread. My wife will not contest it, so should I just apply here in the U.S., even though the marriage was in India? This will help me to avoid missing work unnecessarily, as I'm sure if I file in India, I'll have to turn up there at least one time, if not more - I certainly don't have the funds to make multiple trips to India. If I file in the U.S., and it's granted here, will I then have to get the divorce validated in India if I ever decide to get married again?

I'm truly a "newbie" to this whole process. I don't believe any of us enter into the institution of marriage even THINKING that one day, we might be contemplating divorce. But the sad fact is that life is unpredictable - what seems so wonderful one day can turn sour the next. And now that I find myself in this situation, I just want to get through it, as quickly as possible and leave it behind....

....any advice/guidance would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[txh1b]

The divorce can be obtained in the US and it is valid in India if both of you satisfy the legal residence requirements of the state. You need not travel to India and get divorced there.

There are some tricky situations if there is no mutual consent, the divorce can be declared null and void if the marriage was due to Hindu Marriage act by the courts in India. If you get divorced in US, there is some validation procedure that may need to be followed. Check with a family law attorney in US and in India.

Good Luck!

[txh1b]

I found a good answer and the position of Indian courts from a person that claims to be a legal professional on the internet. Credit goes to him. Posting it for future reference of the forum members.

When both the parties were India & married in India according to any of the India form of marriage then the dissolution of such marriage should be done through the Indian Family Court of the competent jurisdiction where the marriage took place or where either of the parties usually reside or where both the parties last resided together. In such a case the decree of divorce passed by the Indian Family Court would be non controversial way out for dissolving such marriage. Now coming to the second point whether such divorce granted by a foreign court is valid for the purpose of dissolving such a marriage or not. Section 13 of the Civil Procedure Code provides When foreign judgment not conclusive.


A foreign judgment shall be conclusive as to any matter thereby directly adjudicated upon between the same parties or between parties under whom they or any of them claim litigating under the same title except-


(a) where it has not been pronounced by a Court of competent jurisdiction;

(b) where it has not been given on the merits of the case;

(c) where it appears on the face of the proceedings to be founded on an incorrect view of international law or a refusal to recognise the law of India in cases in which such law is applicable;

(d) where the proceedings in which the judgment was obtained are opposed to natural justice;

(e) where it has been obtained by fraud;

(f) where it sustains a claim founded on a breach of any law in force in India.
So these six conditions are fulfilled by such foreign judgment/decree of divorce then it will be valid for dissolving such Indian marriage as has been held by the Supreme Court of India in several of its judgments. The very first condition is with regard to Jurisdiction of such foreign court, what it means that both or either of the parties should be residing in the foreign country where from such decree of divorce has been obtained. The second important condition is with regard to merits of the case for divorce, whether those merits considered by the foreign court to arrive on this conclusion or not. Next, a proper notice was served to the other party with regard to such divorce proceedings & the other party was assigned a sufficient time to file his or her defense against the case, hence following the principle of natural justice. There was no fraud or force involved in such case & both the parties either mutually agreed to surrender itself to such foreign court for getting the decree of divorce or neither of them objected to such foreign court proceeding with such matter & deciding it accordingly. Lastly the decree so passed by the foreign court should not be such which may not be executable in India. In your case if you both had agreed for going through such divorce in Spain through their Family Court having similar status as Indian Family Court, such decree of divorce was passed after considering all the merits of your case, both the parties were heard & their statements properly recorded by the foreign court & a proper judgment followed by the decree passed by such foreign court dissolving your marriage, then this will be a valid dissolution of marriage & the decree of divorce executable in India. Now should you get this decree of divorce declared as valid by the family court of India or not. It all depends on you or on the precondition as mentioned in such decree of divorce by the foreign court. Some foreign courts do put a condition in the decree to any such matter to become valid only after the Indian court or competent government authority gives its ascent of approval on such decree. In such a case you have to file an application in the Family court of competent jurisdiction as discussed above in India to get the approval & validation of such decree of divorce. Otherwise it is entirely on both of you to go in for Indian court validating such foreign divorce decree or not, for all purpose you both can proceed for second marriage if such foreign divorce decree was obtained keeping in mind all the prerequisite conditions as mentioned in section13 of the CPC. Try using the Foreign Family Court divorce decree for both these purposes if the Indian government/authorities don't agree then get this decree validated by Indian Family Court.

[gshcandyman]

Thanks, txh1b....that was quite a comprehensive reply! Some of the language was a bit hard to follow, but it sounds like there should be no problem as long as:

1. The divorce is by mutual consent, and I provide my wife with notice that I'm going to be filing in the U.S., and get her consent for that, as well.

2. I can prove that I'm a citizen and resident of the U.S.

3. The court in the U.S. doesn't stipulate that the divorce order granted here has to be validated in India in order to be effective. Conversely, the divorce order shouldn't have some stipulation which PREVENTS it from being valid in India.

4. The factors taken into consideration for granting a divorce in the U.S. are comparable to those factors which would be considered for a similar case in India.

Looks like there are a couple of things which I'll have to research, and consult a lawyer for. Thanks so much for your help. I'll keep this thread updated with any info I get, and would be grateful if you could do the same.

[Vasaveela]

Basically, I have indian citizenship & married in India itself{we both are Indians}. Just to come out of marriange it self I've come here to United states on B2 visa{Visiting visa}, so being a foreigner can I get divorce from my husband in United states??? & would it be valid in India as well as in USA??

Thanks in advance........

Vasaveela

[mash111]

i have similar kind of problem as yours. how did you solve it. could you pls provide me your email address??

thanks

[leahtreasa]

I have the same issue....I came here on F1,now on OPT and my H1 will begin in OCT. I went to India to get married in nov 2009 and came back in Jan 2010 and he went to Abu Dhabi where he works. We have been living in two different ocuntries since then. Things are not working out between and his parents made it worse. Now I want to file for divorce.He has agreed to a mutual but I dont want to go to India to file for divorce. I wanna know the following

1. Can I file for divorce here? I live in NJ.
2. If yes, will it be valid in India and wat is the process in getting it validated in India.
3. I'm also a catholic and have to get divorce in Chruch too.

Any help in this matter will be highly appreciated.

Regards,
Leah