Divorce Question Help!

K

karagg

Registered Users (C)
I am born and brought up in India and a naturalized US citizen currently living in US.I got married in India as per Indian Hindu marriage act. Me and my spouse are separated for about 5+ years. My spouse is an Indian citizen and living in India.

I am planning to get the divorce in USA without the mutual consent.

As per latest Indian law/Indian Hindu marriage act, could you please let me know if the divorce (that I get in USA court) would be valid in India also.

Appreciate your help!
 
karagg said:
I am born and brought up in India and a naturalized US citizen currently living in US.I got married in India as per Indian Hindu marriage act. Me and my spouse are separated for about 5+ years. My spouse is an Indian citizen and living in India.

I am planning to get the divorce in USA without the mutual consent.

As per latest Indian law/Indian Hindu marriage act, could you please let me know if the divorce (that I get in USA court) would be valid in India also.

Appreciate your help!
Click to expand...

You can file for divorce in a US court. Once granted the dicorce is valid in india and there is a recent Indian Supreme court ruling on this. The trick is that the US court will need proof of service ie that the spouse has been served the summons and that is tricky if there is an india address. does the Spouse have any US address ? That could make is very easy since you serve to that address and if 60 days pass without an answer you get a default divorce.
 
lotechguy said:
You can file for divorce in a US court. Once granted the dicorce is valid in india and there is a recent Indian Supreme court ruling on this. The trick is that the US court will need proof of service ie that the spouse has been served the summons and that is tricky if there is an india address. does the Spouse have any US address ? That could make is very easy since you serve to that address and if 60 days pass without an answer you get a default divorce.
Click to expand...

Appreciate your reply. Yesterday,I checked with Indian consulate and they have also mentioned that from August this change happened. Could you please confirm if it is just a ruling for an individual case or is it an amendment to the law itself.

To answer your question, No spouse does not have a US address. Could you please give me an insight why should India address be a problem. What is the issue if I send summon to spouse's India address?
 
karagg said:
Appreciate your reply. Yesterday,I checked with Indian consulate and they have also mentioned that from August this change happened. Could you please confirm if it is just a ruling for an individual case or is it an amendment to the law itself.

To answer your question, No spouse does not have a US address. Could you please give me an insight why should India address be a problem. What is the issue if I send summon to spouse's India address?
Click to expand...

This is a supereme court ruling in an indivudual case but the judges basically ruled that once a couple accepts a forgien court jurisdiction in their marraige then the final disposition of the case as rendered by that forgeign court is binding on both. So the tricks are as follows:

1. serve the spouse wherever, but be ready to furnish proof of service to court. The proof of service for non-us addresses is a little tricky, but basically if your spouse signs a courier receipt for the summons that shoulkd work. However if the spouse refuse to accept the summons and sign the recipt, then you are stuck and have to use other means to convince the court
that a summons was indeed delivered to your spouse.

2. Unless your spouse files a brief challenging the jurisdiction of the US court this should be an easy cakewalk, since if the spouse does respond to the court and thereby submits to its jurisdiction, then by indian supreme court precedence the US courts proccedings become binding on the spouse and you in India.

Good Luck in your divorce, though I always regret such developments, having seen cases like your very closely, I wish you all the best in concluding it.
 
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