Thank you for visiting our website. IS THIS LEGAL? You ask a very good question.
The answer is, of course it's legal. Legal and illegal, however are terms that are not very relevant. Legal and illegal apply more to criminal law. For something to be "illegal" you have to break a specific law. For instance, if you rob someone you have committed an illegal act by breaking the specific law against robbery. On the other hand, any thing you do which does NOT violate a specific law is considered a legal act.
There is no SPECIFIC LAW against getting divorced - in the Hispaniola, Haiti, Mexico or anywhere else - so there is no question about legality.
We think what you intend to ask is this "Is the divorce valid?" - and that's a much more interesting question.
The thing that must be remembered here is that we are dealing with an area of CIVIL LAW - NOT CRIMINAL LAW. In criminal law things are cut and dried - you're guilty of you're not guilty. In civil law NOTHING is cut and dried; the only question that applies is "what was the ruling on this single, specific case"?
Here's an example that will give you an idea of just how complicated civil law can be. There was a fellow in California who went to Nevada and lived there the required 6 weeks before applying for a divorce. The divorce was routinely heard by a Nevada court that ruled that he met the residency requirements and granted the divorce. Shortly after the divorce, the fellow got married. A short time after that, he decided to return to California. When he got back to California, the wife he had divorced filed suit in California court asking the court to declare his Nevada divorce invalid because he didn't reside in Nevada long enough to indicate he "intended to make Nevada his permanant residence." Now, although the Nevada court had already ruled that he HAD met the requirements necessary to indicate he intended to make Nevada his permanant residence, the California court dissagreed and declared his Nevada divorce invalid. The end result is that, in Nevada - to this day - he is considered divorced from his first wife and married to his second wife. On the other hand, In California, he is considered to still be married to his first wife!
In addition, his first wife attempted to have him arrested for bigamy since he was married to her and another woman at the same time. However, the state of California declined prosecution because the bigamy statute is basically a fraud statute designed to prevent people from getting married to a second partner while knowing that a first marriage has not been dissolved. Therefore, it was the opinion of the state of California that the guy was NOT guilty of bigamy because he legitimately BELIEVED he was divorced from the first wife at the time he married the second wife. What a can of worms!
So, here's the deal.
All the junk (and it is junk because it's really not relevant) that is talked about in the information against Dominican, Mexican or Haitian divorce is correct in theory. But all it really says is that, IF CONTESTED, a Global Divorce MIGHT be declared INVALID. Yeah, well, so might a Nevada divorce, a Canadian divorce or any other divorce - in theory. However, the assertion that a Global Divorce is generally not valid or accepted, is just pure bull.
Sure, there are some court cases where a specific court, on a specific day, for a specific case found that a Global Divorce was not valid. However, there are also numerous cases where a court ruled that the divorce was valid. But the fact is, that thousands of Dominican, Mexican or Haitian divorces are granted every year, go uncontested and are routinely accepted as valid. We have had clients present a Global Divorce decree to IRS, Social Security, Immigration and Naturalization and about every other agency and jurisdiction you can name and have the divorce acepted with NO PROBLEM.
So what's all the controversy about? It's about theory - the kind of thing lawyers just love to argue about. See, in civil law, you can argue a case from any position and you can always sight previous court cases where the court decided the issue in your favor because, if it's a question that's been around for awhile - like Dominican Divorce, Haiti or Mexico has - there are always hundreds of court cases that were decided pro and con. That's the nature of civil law.
Now, in the real world, it works like this:
You get a Global Divorce through the Dominican Republic, Haiti or Mexico, any State in the U.S., Canada or any other jurisdiction and it's legal as long as it was properly done according to the laws of the jurisdiction where it was done and it's also considered valid. In the case of the Global Divorce do through the Dominican Republic, Haiti or Mexico or State Court Magistrate, attaches a statement that says the divorce is worthy of "Full Faith and Credit". At that point it's as valid as any other divorce. And, if no one ever challenges the divorce in court, it remains forever valid.
But what happens if someone DOES challenge the validity of a specific Global Divorce? THAT'S when you get into the whole can of worms called civil law. Anything can happen - whether you're talking about Global Divorce or German divorce or any other type of legal action. The point is, that Global Divorce is just as valid - not more so - not less so - than a divorce issued by any other jurisdiction. They can all be challenged and a court can rule anything the judge decides is correct on that particular day for that particular divorce. However, that particular decision DOES NOT effect any other divorce - only the one being challenged.
Okay, so you get a legal,
Global Divorce which, in the opinion of the U.S. Embassy or US court in the Republic of Haiti, Mexico or Dominican Republic is a valid and worthy of "Full Faith and Credit" . . . that remains the case forever - unless somene wants to male a big deal and argue it in court. That never happens with 99.9% of all
Global Divorces and the divorce is routinely honored under COMITY (by the way, the assertion that a state is not REQUIRED to honor the divorce under comity is correct; what they don't tell you - and therefore mislead you about - is that states almost always DO accept Global Divorces as kind of a courtesy).
Anyway, back to challenging Global Divorce. Who can do that? The answer that any agency or jurisdiction that it's presented to can say that they won't accept it or that they believe it's not valid. That however does NOT make the divorce invalid - it just means that they don't accept it - it's still valid in EVERY OTHER JUSRISDICTION and EVERY OTHER SITUATION. But the only way to have the divorce actually declared invalid for all purposes is to file a court case and have a judge decide. Basically, there are only two people in the whole universe who can do that: you and your spouse. If you spouse signed and agreed to the divorce, there is actually only one person who can ask for a court decision and that's YOU. Why, because under the fairness doctrine known as "Estoppel" your spouse is precluded from challenging the divorce since she previously agreed to it.
So, who can create a problem? You. But why would you want to?
Just take your decree when you receive it and proceed as if it was granted by any other state or jurisdiction because it's just as valid. The odds are better than 99 out of a 100 that you'll never have a problem. In the extremely unlikely event that you do have a problem and a court rules your divorce not valid, than we will honor our guarantee that's a part of the contract you signed. We should, however, like to say once again that we have never - out of hundreds of Global Divorces done over a nearly 10 year period - had a court rule that a divorce was invalid.
So relax. Forget the theoretical world of civil law where any kind of a ruling is POSSIBLE. In the real world, as of right now, you have a 100% legal and valid divorce. It's extremely unlikely that anything will ever occur to change that fact.
Below you will find a list of services that we offer.
Emergency Divorce..................$ 2,300.00
*Divorce guaranteed within a 24 hours, recorded,
certified and returned to the client within 5
Days Guaranteed
Divorce Express/Annulment..................$ 1,995.00
*Divorce guaranteed within a couple of days, recorded,
certified and returned to the client within 15
Days Guaranteed and the Annulment to follow in 2-3 weeks
Divorce Express.............................$ 1,895.00
*Divorce guaranteed within a couple of days, recorded,
certified and returned to the client within 15
Days Guaranteed
1-3 DAY, Mutual Consent divorce.............$ 1,795.00
1-3 DAY, Unilateral divorce......................$1,895.00
*Divorce guaranteed to be granted by the court in no
more than 3 business days. All paperwork certified
and returned to client usually within 12 weeks.
1 week, Mutual Consent divorce................$1,695.00
1 week, Unilateral divorce........................$1,795.00
*Divorce guaranteed to be granted by the court and
client notified in no more than 7 business days. All
paperwork certified and usually returned to client
within 12 weeks.
3 week, Mutual Consent divorce................$ 1,595.00
3 week, Unilateral divorce........................$1,695.00
*Divorce guaranteed to be granted by the court and client
notified in no more than 21 business days. All paperwork
certified and returned to client within 12 weeks.
If you require additional verification from us, then an
'Affidavit of Divorce' can be arranged for an additional
fee of $95.00. The affidavit is not needed, nor is it
part of the divorce. It provides evidence that your
divorce decree is being processed and that it exists.
You may find it useful if you plan to remarry soon.
If you still have questions, please let us know.
Hope this helps
Internet Legal Referrals
262-206-4144
If you still have questions, please call us or send email.
©Copyright Protected Internet Legal Referrals, Global Divorce 2007