CAN MY SISTER FILE FOR DIVORCE IN THE U.S. IF HER HUSBAND IS IN THE PHILIPPINES?

I frequently receive questions from people regarding their divorce and family law issues. The following is a question which the inquirer agreed may be publicly revealed, and my answer to the question:

QUESTION: Can my sister file for a divorce in the US even though she was married overseas? We are born in the Philippines, and my sister lives in the States right now. She wants to file a divorce here against her estranged husband who abandoned them when their kids were small. They don't have any communications with him, and many years ago she learned he was living with another woman. Is it possible to have an American lawyer process it and how much it cost?

ANSWER: It is possible, but not certain, that your sister can divorce her estranged husband here. Where the parties got married is not relevant to where they can get divorced. If your sister is living in the same state as her estranged husband, she can certainly divorce him in that state. If her husband is living elsewhere, if he cooperates with the divorce proceedings and accepts service of process through Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt and doesn't contest the divorce, she can divorce him here. However, if he has never been to the state where she files her divorce case, he could oppose jurisdiction in that state based on lack of constitutionally required minimum contacts with that state, but if he doesn't oppose jurisdiction, he waives that opposition. If he is currently in the Philippines, if he does not cooperate by signing and returning a Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt, your sister would need to have him served through a time-consuming, cumbersome and expensive process known as Letters Rogatory, since the Philippines is not a member of the Hague Service Convention.

This informative and educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, a Certified Family Law Specalist, owner of Warner Center Law Offices in Woodland Hills in the San Fernando Valley, an effective and aggressive Family Law and Divorce Attorney serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years, offering a free confidential consultation regarding your divorce or family law issues, at 818/880-8990, responding to questions posed to him about Divorce and Family Law.