Mcgregor

One reader, M, wrote:

I need to know if all divorces, once filed and go through the court are legal. M is a Jamaican by birth and has lived in Jamaica all of her life. She got married in the Bahamas in 2005 and went to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to obtain a divorce in 2006. M asked whether the divorce she obtained in Santo Domingo is valid.

Answer:

A decree of dissolution or nullity of marriage obtained in a foreign court may be recognised as valid in Jamaica, provided the requirements of section 24 of the Matrimonial Causes Act are satisfied.

For the decree to be valid in Jamaica, it must:

have been obtained in some form of proceedings;

be officially recognised in the country in which it was obtained; and

be effective in the law of the country in which it was obtained.

Together, those constitute the first hurdle to cross. One of the following three conditions must also be satisfied:

Either party to the marriage must have been a national of, domiciled in or an ordinary resident in the country in which the decree was obtained; or

The decree must be recognised by the courts of the country in which either party was domiciled at the date of the decree; or

If either party was domiciled in the country in which the decree was obtained, the decree will only be valid if the petitioner (person who applied for divorce) was ordinarily resident there for at least one year or if the parties' last place of cohabitation was in that country.

Based on the information provided by M, if her husband was a national, ordinary resident or domiciled in Santo Domingo at the date of the divorce and the divorce was obtained in some officially recognised and legally effective form of proceedings under that country's laws, her divorce may be valid. However, if M's husband was also a Jamaican and they had never cohabited in Santo Domingo, they may still be married.

Under Jamaican law, unless M had obtained special permission from the Supreme Court, she would not have been allowed to proceed with a petition for divorce in Jamaica within the first two years of her marriage. Under Jamaican law, a person must be married for at least two years, separated for one year, and the marriage must have broken down irretrievably before a divorce decree is granted.