NEW YORK AND FOREIGN DIVORCES

  

Jolin v. Rosario, 2012 NY Slip Op 51317 - NY: Dist. Court, Nassau County, 1st Dist. 2012:

"In the case at bar, the Petitioner and the Respondent were married on January 14, 2009 in the Dominican Republic where the Respondent and her son, Alexander Cespedes Hernandez resided. In or about April 2010, the Petitioner moved the Respondent and her son to the United States and he moved them into his house where they have resided ever since. Then, in or about September 2011, the Petitioner obtained an ex parte divorce from the Dominican Republic without the knowledge or consent of the Respondent. The Respondent alleges that she first learned of the divorce when she discovered divorce documents taped to their home computer.

In Arnoff v. Arnoff, the Second Department Appellate Division held that in order for a foreign divorce to be recognized in New York, the foreign court must have had in personam jurisdiction over both spouses. Aranoff v. Aranoff, 226 AD2d 657,658, 642 N.Y.S.2d 49, 50 (NY App. Div. 2d Dep't 1996). More recently, the Second Department held that it will not recognize an ex parte divorce attained by a spouse who is present but not domiciled in the foreign country if the other nonresident spouse does not appear and is not served with process. Farag v. Farag, 4 AD3d 502, 504, 772 N.Y.S.2d 368, 371(NY App. Div. 2d Dep't 2004).

This court will not recognize Petitioner's divorce from Respondent because the divorce was obtained ex parte without proper notice to Respondent."