Legal Specs

Conflicts of Law in Divorces

22 May 2008

When people from different countries wed, and then decided on residing in another country, problems can arise when this couple decided to end their marriage. Procedures for divorce can become significantly more complicated when a couple which is not a citizen on a specific country.
Although most countries make divorce possible, the form of settlement or agreement following divorce may be very different depending on where the divorce takes place. In some countries there may be a bias towards the man regarding property settlements, and in others there may be a bias towards the woman, both concerning property, and also custody of any children. Learn more about this with the st. louis divorce lawyer.
Even if not disputed, the spouse could later dispute it and potentially invalidate another jurisdiction's ruling. This is issue is commonly associated with Conflict of Laws, which is a branch of international law and international interstate law that regulates all lawsuits involving a "foreign" law element where different judgments will result depending on which jurisdiction's laws are applied as the lex causae.
Different jurisdictions follow different sets of rules. Before starting a conflict of law analysis, the Court must first decide on whether a property agreement governs the relationship between the parties. The property agreement must satisfy all formalities required in the Country where enforcement is sought.
When a Court is attempting to distribute marital property, if the divorcing couple is local and the property is local, then the Court applies its domestic law lex fori. Visit the st. louis divorce lawyer to know more about this.
The work of the Judge, and the lawyers in the case becomes much more complicated if foreign elements are thrown into the mix, such as the place of marriage is different than the territory where divorce was filed, or the parties nationality and residence do not match.
Each time a spouse invokes the application of foreign law, the process of divorce slows down, as the parties are directed to brief the issue of conflict of laws, hire foreign attorneys to write legal opinions, and translations of the foreign law are required, at an extensive cost to both sides. For more information about the law of divorce, then visit the st. louis divorce lawyer for more details.